Riddled with Black
by JessicaLee22
Summary: Ari Black was raised to believe that she was the daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, growing up alongside Draco as his younger sister. It's 1992 and Ari begins her first year expecting to be sorted in Slytherin like all of her family before her, but nothing goes according to plan. Also, the Chamber of Secrets has been opened, and Ari is set to discover some secrets of her own.
1. A Dark Beginning

**Summary: Ari Black was raised to believe that she was the daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, growing up alongside Draco as his younger sister. It's 1992 and Ari begins her first year expecting to be sorted in Slytherin like all of her family before her, but nothing goes according to plan. Also, the Chamber of Secrets has been opened, and Ari is set to discover some secrets of her own.**

 **Copyright: I am not J.K Rowling and therefore do not own any characters or concepts recognised as belong to her universe.**

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Riddled with Black  
Chapter One: A Dark Beginning  
 **August, 1981**

It had begun in the middle of the night. While it was nearing the end of August, summer was most definitely still in full swing. The day had been long, hot and humid, and as it had come to an end the evening had brought a magnificent thunderstorm. Bellatrix Lestrange, born of the magical pure blood family Black, was wide awake, watching the display, when her body decided to present a storm of its own. Seeming in time with the crash of thunder, her stomach cramped tightly. At first she had thought it was nothing, until quite suddenly she felt very wet in her seat. Bellatrix was not expecting her water to break that night, even when it seemed her pains – Braxton Hicks as Narcissa had called them – had gotten worse. She wasn't due until the end of September, and even then the Black family was known for their stubborn, overdue babies. Bellatrix herself had been late, originally due at end of November; she'd made her arrival in the early hours of Boxing Day morning.

Bellatrix grimaced as she was struck with another deep pain in her abdomen. For the first time in her life she was completely at loss on what to do. Rodolphus, her husband, had already retired for the night. They had spent the evening establishing what they wanted to name the unborn child. The House of Black had an interesting tradition when it came to naming their offspring, as many of them had been named after stars and constellations. Bellatrix, proud of her background, had wanted to continue this tradition. If her child was a boy, they were going to call him Orion Romulus, the first name being for the constellation and her favourite uncle, and the second name for her husband's father. Should the baby be a girl her name would be Adhara Primrose, for the star and in honour of her mother in law, Primrose Lestrange. Bellatrix had also liked that this had enabled her to use a naming tradition of flowers from her mother side, as her youngest sister Narcissa had been named as such.

While first names carried their own significance, the most important part of their conversation was that they had also came to an agreement to carry on the last name Black. There were not many wizards or witches left to carry the Black name, especially in comparison to the Lestrange family. There was no concern for a Lestrange heir, with Rabastan's wife having given birth to son only a few months prior. Little did Rodolphus know that Bellatrix had an entirely different reason for not wanting her child to carry the Lestrange name, however this was something she had chosen not to share with her husband. Although she did believe he was truly loyal to the cause, then he would be more then understanding.

The next pain hit her quite hard, and she yelped out. This must have woken Rodolphus because within minutes he had come out, a look of panic on his usually expressionless face.

"Bella, are you alright?" Rodolphus had asked, he began to look concerned.

"Could you get Cissy, I think the baby is coming!" Bellatrix hissed through yet another contraction.

"Isn't it too soon?" He exclaimed, his eyes wide open.

"I believe my water has just broken, just go and get Narcissa." Bellatrix said through gritted teeth. He tried to assist her up to the bed, but she shrugged him off and he left to do what asked. Bellatrix slowly made her way over to sit on the bed, relying on furniture to keep her steady. She could not even count how far apart the contractions were, as they were coming too quickly. This was happening much faster than she had anticipated.

Bellatrix had never wanted children, she had not even wanted to get married. The domesticity of it all was incredibly boring for her and she most certainly didn't want to end up like her mother. She loved her mother, but loathed the fact that she was nothing but a house witch; a woman who lived in the shadow of her husband. Bellatrix had found her true calling as a warrior, as a Death Eater; the Dark Lord's finest and most loyal follower. This baby was nothing but a burden; how would she be able to fight for the cause? Bellatrix knew nothing about children, in fact, she hated most children. Her only exception had been her nephew, Draco. Bellatrix had only married Rodolphus to please her family, and because her stupid blood traitor sister had backed out and had married that filthy mudblood instead. Although she respected her husband's loyalty to the Dark Lord, and he respected her, there was no love in their marriage. However, just because their relationship was one of obligation rather than love, did not mean that the couple never consummated their marriage. Sex was something Bellatrix enjoyed, but she had always been careful to use the contraception spell. She did not want children, and she definitely did not want children with Rodolphus Lestrange, as powerful, pureblood and attractive as he was. Yet here she was, in this vulnerable state.

Her thoughts were then interrupted by her younger sister. Due to her 'criminal' status she could not exactly just go to St Mungo's to deliver her baby. They would take advantage of her vulnerable state and probably arrest her. Alternatives had to be arranged, and Narcissa, who was qualified Healer despite now being a stay at home mother and housewife, would act as midwife for her older sister.

"How are you doing?" Narcissa asked, a nervous Rodolphus hovering behind her.

"Is it too soon?" Bellatrix asked, she was also worried that it was too early for her baby to be born.

"No, while you are little early, thirty seven weeks is considered close enough to term, my little niece or nephew should be fine," Narcissa answered, and bother Bellatrix and Rodolphus relaxed. Narcissa turned to him, she needed his help.

"Can you please get me some hot water and some cloths?" He nodded, and for the second time dashed quickly out of the room. Narcissa helped Bellatrix get more comfortable in the bed.

"Are you going to tell him?" Narcissa whispered.

"No, it's safer for this baby to be known only as the child of Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange, even if he or she does carry the last name Black." Narcissa nodded, and they spoke no more of the secret Bellatrix was keeping. Rodolphus returned shortly with materials Narcissa had asked for, and sat quietly in the corner, occasionally comforting Bellatrix in the rare times that she wanted him to.

The labour was shorter than what Bellatrix had imagined. She had been told by her mother that the first was always the hardest. Druella Black had been in labour with Bellatrix for almost twenty hours, the ordeal causing her to miss many Christmas celebrations. Narcissa had been in labour with Draco for over fourteen hours before he decided to say hello to the world. Bellatrix expected this baby to take just as long; even though she hoped for the ordeal to be over as soon as possible. She did not want this baby; even though she thought it was special. When Bellatrix first found out she was pregnant, she had wanted to destroy it, but something stopped her. This baby existed for a reason.

With one final push, she delivered her baby, but was met with silence.

"Why isn't he crying?" She asked immediately, panicked expression on her face while she assumed the child's gender.

"She," Narcissa responded. Bellatrix looked at her rather blankly. She had gone through the entire pregnancy anticipating she would have a boy. A son to carry on the legacy of her family

"It's a girl," Narcissa informed her, as she patted the infants back to try and get it to cry. It worked, and Bellatrix sighed in relief as her newborn daughter was placed on her chest.

 **Halloween, 1981**

Bellatrix looked down at the sleeping baby in her arms, her face turning from a smile to frown as she realized that she would probably never see her child again. The infant was barely over two months old, and Bellatrix was leaving her so soon. After much discussion between herself, Rodolphus, Narcissa and Narcissa's husband Lucius, that it would be better if Adhara was raised a Malfoy, despite carrying the surname Black. Bellatrix believed to be for the best. How legal the arrangement would be, would all depend on the outcome of the Wizarding War. Bellatrix was more then willing to die for her Lord, and should this be the case, then Narcissa would legally adopt Adhara as her own. Similarly, should the Dark Lord fail and Bellatrix was caught and incarcerated, it was even more important that Adhara be raised as a Malfoy, should any one aim to target her as being the child of Bellatrix Lestrange. Finally, should the Dark Lord succeed, Bellatrix knew her place was beside him, helping him run the world he had taken control of. She was not fit to raise a child, and knew her sister would do a fine job of raising Adhara in a proper manner.

"She's absolutely beautiful, Bella." Bellatrix looked up at her younger sister, who was looking down lovingly at her niece. Bellatrix knew that Narcissa wanted more children, that while Narcissa adored her own son Draco, she would love a little girl to do those mother daughter things with. Bellatrix also knew that her baby sister struggled to have Draco, and the struggle for a second baby was even harder. That just added to the many reasons why it was better for Narcissa to raise Adhara as her own.

"I know; she is simply magical, but I have to let her go." Bellatrix sighed, before returning her gaze to the infant, who started to squirm as she began to wake. Bellatrix lifted her up; one last hold.

"You don't have to go anywhere, Bella. You don't have to return to him, you have a child now. You could stay and raise her." Narcissa tried to reason with her older sister, but to no avail. She was more than willing to accept the responsibility of raising her niece, but what she really wanted was for Bellatrix to give up her role as the Dark Lord's right hand man, and be a mother to her child.

"I have a duty, Cissy, and I must return to it," Bellatrix said with gritted teeth; they'd had this conversation to many times in the past few months.

"The only duty you have is to your daughter!" Narcissa snapped.

"I was never meant to be a mother Narcissa! As much as I hold affection for her, I can't raise her properly. I'm on a wanted list, how am I supposed to?" At any other point in her life, Bellatrix would have snapped or snarled, but this had felt different. Having a baby had softened her insanity slightly, but not enough for her to enjoy it.

"Not even for a little while longer? What about her first Christmas?" Narcissa pleaded.

"No, not for that long, the Dark Lord has special plans for me tonight." Her response was tense, and for a moment Narcissa didn't know how to respond. Every mission meant an opportunity for her sister to be severely injured or die.

"Look Cissy, I do not want to fight. I do not want this to be any more difficult than it has to be. Promise me Cissy, that you will look after her and raise her as your own. Promise me that in the event that something happens to me, you will teach her the things that I cannot." Now it was her turn to plead, something that Bellatrix had refused to do since she was a young child.

"Of course I would Bella; don't ever doubt that, I just wish that there was another way." The child had fallen asleep again and Bellatrix placed her back down into her bassinet. Bellatrix nodded in thanks to her younger sister, before holding her in a tight embrace. Narcissa could feel her eyes water, it had been years since Bellatrix had hugged her. She missed her.

"What business does the Dark Lord have for you tonight?" Narcissa braved herself to ask. Bellatrix pondered for a moment, unsure of what to answer.

"We will be paying a visit to the dear Longbottoms," Bellatrix left it at that. Narcissa didn't need to ask wi HOPE hat was meant, she could already guess.

"They have a small child, no older than Draco." Narcissa frowned. Surely an innocent child would be spared, they have no control over the choices of their families.

"They are blood traitors." Bellatrix angrily snapped; it disgusted her greatly that there were pure blood families that insisted on defending muggles and mudbloods. Narcissa nodded, while she agreed with the sentiment she struggled to agree with the violence.

"I guess this is goodbye." Narcissa said quietly, noticing her sister becoming impatient.

"For now," Bellatrix mumbled. She stole one last glance down at her daughter, before disapparating far away from Malfoy Manor, with a single tear rolling down her cheek. The baby, as if sensing her mother was gone, awoke instantly and began crying. Narcissa comforted the child, trying to stop her own tears. She wanted this war to end, it didn't matter who won. She wanted her son and niece to be safe. Not long later, the child stopped crying and fell asleep in her aunt's arms, and time went on. Unbeknownst to either of them, their world was about to be ripped apart.

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 **I hope you enjoyed the prologue/first chapter of Riddled with Black. I would love to hear feedback.**


	2. Eleven Years Later

**Summary: Ari Black was raised to believe that she was the daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, growing up alongside Draco as his younger sister. It's 1992 and Ari begins her first year expecting to be sorted in Slytherin like all of her family before her, but nothing goes according to plan. Also, the Chamber of Secrets has been opened, and Ari is set to discover some secrets of her own.**

 **Copyright: I am not J.K Rowling and therefore do not own any characters or concepts recognised as belong to her universe.**

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Riddled with Black  
Chapter Two – Eleven Years Later

A distant rumbling sound could be heard as I waited patiently with my mother and father for the Hogwarts Express to arrive at Platform 9¾, carrying my older brother Draco back from his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Oh look mum, there it is," I heard a voice from somewhere behind me. Turning to look I saw that it belonged to a girl who appeared to be similar to me in age, with ginger hair and freckles. She was standing with a short, plump woman. I could only assume that this was her mother, as they had the same ginger hair and warm brown eyes.

"Yes it is Ginny, dear." At this point, Ginny and I made eye contact, so I smiled at her and she smiled back. This was quickly met with a hard tap on the shoulder from my father's cane. I looked up at him.

"That there is the Weasley family, Adhara, and they are a disgrace to the Wizarding community with their muggle obsessions and too many children then what they can afford." Father remarked, and I nodded. Muggles were people who could not perform magic, and who for the most part remained oblivious to magic's existence. My parents, in fact my entire family, believed that muggles were inferior to wizards and witches. Sometimes, somehow, magical children were born to muggle parents, and more frequently wizards and witches had children with muggles producing half-blood children. Apparently there are only twelve families left who can call themselves pure of blood.

Within moments the Hogwarts Express had stopped at the platform, and shortly after children started piling out.

"Oh look mum, Harry Potter, there he is!" I heard Ginny squeal as a group of six got off the train and headed towards them. I noted that there was five boys and a girl.

"It's rude to point Ginny," Her mother remarked. Four of the boys looked like they were from the Weasley family as well, with their ginger hair and freckles. Two were tall and lean with blue eyes while the other two were identical twins, stockier with brown eyes like their sister and mother. One of the two noticed me watching them, and made eye contact and winked, which startled me into redirecting my attention towards the train looking for Draco. I'd also noted that the girl looked completely unrelated with her brown bushy hair, and that the remaining boy had dark hair and emerald green eyes. This was Harry Potter, and my brother had a large problem with him. This caused me to assume the girl was Hermione Granger, a muggle born girl in Draco's year who he has also formed a special distaste for her, as she seemed to best him in all his classes.

What I had found most interesting was how all the siblings looked almost identical to one another, whereas my brother and I looked nothing alike. Draco looked like a typical Malfoy, with platinum blonde hair and pale grey eyes. My mother was the youngest daughter of Druella Rosier and Cygnus Black, and had taken after the Rosier family with her golden blonde hair and blue eyes. I instead took after the Black family. I have thick dark curls and brown eyes. We do not even have the many similar facial features.

The Weasley family left through the gateway back to rest of King's Cross Station, and shortly after Draco had arrived, along with an entourage. With him stood Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle and Pansy Parkinson. Crabbe and Goyle I could cope with, they were too dumb to be any real nuisance, Pansy however, I did not like at all, and she had shown the feeling was mutual. We shared looks of distaste.

"Well I've reached my family now, you can all go to yours." Draco essentially commanded the three. The boys left really quickly, while Pansy seemed really hesitant.

"Promise you'll write over the summer?" Pansy asked. Before Draco could respond, my mother, who'd been quite silent, spoke for him.

"I'm sure we will hosting an event that you and your family will be invited to, Pansy." Pansy seemed satisfied with this answer and left. So then, with Draco and his luggage in toe, we were off to. We went through the gateway and headed towards an area designated from wizards and witches to be able to apparate in and out. Father and Draco apparated together, whilst I went with our mother. Within seconds we'd arrived in the entrance hall of Malfoy Manor. Two of our house elves, Dobby and Sandy, were waiting for our arrival. They took Draco's luggage and we headed for the dining room, as dinner was just about ready. Mother had the house elves prepare a marvelous roast from Draco's return. Dinner was filled with small talk, Draco talking about how good his grades were, he'd been second in the year in exam results.

"Who was first in the year?" Father prompted. Draco seemed hesitant to respond. Father raised an eyebrow, not wanting to ask again.

"Just a girl in Gryffindor." Draco said rather quickly.

"What is her name?"

"Hermione Granger."

"Granger, I don't think I've heard of that name before in the Wizarding community." Draco shrugged it off like he wasn't sure. Really he just did not want father to know that he had been beaten by a muggle born.

"Oh well, I'm sure she comes from a good Wizarding family if she managed to top our son, maybe her parents aren't from Britain." Mother chimed in, and father didn't push any further, and instead changed the topic.

"Draco, I've been consulting with Professor Snape about some changes to be made next year." He had mine and Draco's full attention.

"Seeing as Slytherin performed so dismally in the Quidditch Cup this year, it has been decided that the team needs a serious shake up, and an upgrade in brooms. I will be supplying the entire team with a new Nimbus Two Thousand and One, and you will be playing as their seeker." Draco's jaw dropped as he struggled to contain his excitement.

"Thank you father!" Draco exclaimed.

"That is quite alright Draco, you just make sure you perform well. Do not let me down."

"I won't father." The conversation resumed to small talk as we finished off dessert. Draco and I excused ourselves from the table so that we could talk about the year before going to bed.

The dining room led out into a large entertainment or drawing room, which in turn lead back out to the entry hall. The entry hall had two main staircases that stopped at a large open space, with a balcony that looked down at the entry hall. The open space was used a second sitting area, with couches surrounding an open fireplace. Being an old, stone building in a climate that wasn't exactly warm, Malfoy Manor required many fireplaces to keep it warm. Overall, there is seven fireplaces in the manor; one in the both the drawing room and the open sitting area, another in the library, as well as one in each bedroom including the guest room. On either side of the fireplace of both the sitting room and the drawing room were two doors that led out to balcony and porch that faced a north-easterly direction. Almost every morning I would get up early to watch the sunset on the balcony.

Mine and Draco's bedrooms were both on the left side of the landing, along with a shared bathroom. Draco's bedroom was rather dark, with a colour scheme of black, green and silver. My room, on the hand was the exact opposite with warm colours in yellows, oranges and reds.

"So, how was Hogwarts?" I asked Draco again as I sat down on his bed. He sat down beside me; he probably wouldn't start to unpack until after we'd finished talking.

"It was fun, to some degree. I still believe that Durmstrang would have been a better choice though, that Dumbledore is right idiot."

"Why is that?" I asked, cocking my head slightly to the left. He looked frustrated about something. He was thinking deeply, and without even meaning it I found myself thinking about was he was thinking about, his school year was flashing through my mind.

"Ari, are you doing that thing again?" I quickly shook myself out of what felt like a trance.

"I'm sorry, I don't meant to." For as long as I could remember, I could look at a person and be able to tell what they were thinking about, just whatever was on the surface. The only person who knew was Draco, as I was worried what would happen if I told anyone else.

"It's okay, I just want to be able to tell you what is going on myself sometimes, rather than have you already know." I nodded and he took a deep breath in order to start his rant.

"Well to begin with, he allows mudbloods into the school, like that wretched Hermione Granger. Any headmaster with any respect for the school he is running would not even consider having that sort in the same room as us pure blood wizards and witches, we are better than them!"

"I don't understand why you are so upset about that, getting second is still a really good thing." I tried to make him feel better, but I knew exactly why he was upset. Father expected him to be number one at everything, he had a reputation after all.

"It wasn't just second in class, Slytherin were this close to winning the House Cup this year," He said while pinching his fingers together. "We also lost at Quidditch, I just feel like a failure this year."

"Well with you on the team and everyone riding new broomsticks, this next year will be better, plus I'll be there!" Draco smiled. I'd already received my letter before the school year had finished.

"Unfortunately I don't know if that is going to be enough, he seems to favour Harry bloody Potter, the Weasley's and that know it all mudblood Granger. Merlin, he even has a liking for that incompetent fool Longbottom."

"Gryffindor were at the bottom of the ladder, and then Dumbledore comes out with oh, 'Ron Weasley's good at chess, I'll give him some house points,' I mean, how is that worthy of house points? And that 'cool logic' and 'bravery' earning Granger, Potter and Longbottom enough house points to beat us, they broke the school rules and they were rewarded!" I sat quietly as Draco exploded; we'd be raised to never let others see our emotions, but we both felt comfortable to talk to the other about our problems.

"I'm sure we'll win next year," I attempted as a reassurance to him.

"You better be in Slytherin, or I'll be forced to disown you." My comment put him in a slightly better mood, as he joked. At least, I hoped he was joking.

"Of course I'm going to be in Slytherin, where else would I be sorted into?" My entire family had been in Slytherin. No other house made sense; I'd been taught that from a young age.

"I know, I'm joking, but yes, we will win." I nodded, a yawn escaping my mouth as I did so. I was starting to get tired.

"You better go to bed, you look tired," Draco commented, and I nodded wishing him goodnight as I walked across to my room. My bedroom was shaped like the 'T'; with the door starting at the top. Straight down the middle at the end of my room were a fireplace and a sofa. To my left was a chest of draws and a vanity unit, while turning around lead me to my bed. There was a desk before the sofa, which was fairly neat, aside from the loose sheets of drawing paper and the sketching pencils that sprawled out across the table. Next to my door, before the bed was a canvas; when I wasn't learning, I often spent my time painting or drawing.

I quickly got changed into my night clothes placing my clothes in a neat pile on top of the dressing table for Coral to collect and wash. Before going to bed I decided to put my artwork in a neat pile, I also went through my sketch book, noticing that I had less than ten pages left. I'd have to get another next time we went to Diagon Alley. When I'd finished making more room more organised I turned off the main light, using only a lamp for lighting. I got comfortable in bed, beginning to feel very tired, turned the lamp off and found myself asleep not long after my head hit the pillow.

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 **Feedback is much appreciated!**


	3. Diagon Alley

**Summary: Ari Black was raised to believe that she was the daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, growing up alongside Draco as his younger sister. It's 1992 and Ari begins her first year expecting to be sorted in Slytherin like all of her family before her, but nothing goes according to plan. Also, the Chamber of Secrets has been opened, and Ari is set to discover some secrets of her own.**

 **Copyright: I am not J.K Rowling and therefore do not own any characters or concepts recognised as belong to her universe.**

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Riddled with Black  
Chapter Three – Diagon Alley

The rest of the summer went by rather quickly. It was filled with pure blood tea parties, and lessons with father teaching us magic. Before I knew it, my birthday had arrived, the nineteenth of August, and we were celebrating by going into Diagon Alley. I was getting a pet for Hogwarts as my present, and we were also getting our supplies for the school year, that started in just over a week. I didn't need many books, as they were all the same as Draco's last year, and I'd insisted I didn't need brand new ones when Draco's were still in pristine condition.

"Are you coming or what Ari?" Draco called impatiently from the foyer below.

"I'll be down in a minute," I called back and quickly put my shoes on. I'd been looking at a family portrait we'd had a done a few years ago. It reminded me just how much of the literal black sheep I was in this family. My father and brother were spitting images of each other, with white blonde hair and silvery grey eyes, and my mother looked like her own mother, Druella Rosier. I instead took after the House of Black from which my mother had come from, with dark eyes and thick curly black hair. So in the corner of the family portrait was me, the Black sheep of the family, so to speak. Other members of the family had commented that I looked a lot like my aunt, my mother's older sister Bellatrix. I'd inherited the curly dark hair, but also Rosier heart shaped face that they shared, but my eyes were a lighter brown, and I couldn't quite place my nose or mouth. It looked neither Malfoy, Rosier nor Black. Taking one last glance, I made my way to the foyer.

"Happy birthday, Ari." Draco said, as I came down the stairs to the foyer.

"Thank you," I responded with a smile

"Happy birthday, dear," My mother said, as she came to hold me in an embrace.

"We're going to Diagon Alley today, and as promised you'll be able to get a pet of your choice for Hogwarts." My father explained, his voice showing no real emotion as he attempted a half hug. Don't get me wrong, I love my father, and I respected him, but at times he was really cold and distant. However, this was not unusual for our society as many of the other men within my father's friendship circle were much the same.

"We'll also allow for you to get some new art equipment, your elf mentioned that you used up all the pages in your art book and that your sketch pencils were getting small." I never actually showed off my art book, but as my own personal house elf, Coral had often seen it while tidying up my room. She also heard a lot of what I said, and as much as many hated to admit it, she was an obvious choice as someone that my parents should go to in order to find out what I might have wanted. We sat down and our breakfast appeared, we were to eat before going to Diagon Alley.

I sat through all of breakfast smiling, I love going to Diagon Alley. After breakfast, we used the fireplace to Floo to the Leaky Cauldron, in order to shop at Diagon Alley. Upon arrival, my father announced in a vague tone that he needed to deal with some business, and took off in the opposite direction with Draco. I watched him go down an alleyway, with sign saying 'Knockturn Alley'. I'd never been down there, and after seeing the kind of people that came out of there, I really didn't want to.

"So where do you want to go first Adhara?" Mother asked me, distracting me for where I was staring.

"Can we look at the animals?" I asked. I'd given up trying to encourage her to call me by my preferred nickname.

"I was thinking we could go there last, otherwise we'd have to drag whatever you choose all over Diagon Alley in this heat," She suggested. I nodded as this made a lot of sense.

"Well how about we go get a wand?" I asked and mother agreed. We headed off to Ollivander's, a popular shop for purchasing a wand. As we entered, a bell rang above the door. At first there was no one to be seen, but suddenly a man appeared from the back of the store. He seemed to freeze when he saw me, but quickly regained his composure. I thought I heard him say something about Bellatrix Lestrange, but his lips didn't move, so I must have imagined it.

"Hello there young lady, how can I help you?"

"Hi, I'm going to be a first year at Hogwarts, and I've come to get my first wand."

"Ah, that is very exciting! I have to take some measurements, now which arm is your wand arm?" I outstretched my left arm and he measured that before measuring my height. I was considered relatively tall for my age. He then moved to one of the shelves, grabbing a wand.

"This wand is made from hazel, with a unicorn hair core, 8 inches." He passed the wand to me, but instantly it didn't feel right and I quickly passed it back.

"No, sorry that's not right." I muttered, and he nodded, before searching for another wand. He came back a few moments later.

"Try this." I held my hand out for the wand, and felt a warm feeling inside. I wasn't fully connected to it yet, but it did feel right in my hands.

"I'd like this one." I said simply, but smiling.

"Interesting… this is made from Blackthorn wood, with a phoenix feather core, and is exactly 11 inches long. You might find this wand to be difficult at first, Blackthorn wands have always been stubborn, but they are known to become very loyal, especially after a time of great danger." I had no idea what he meant by that last bit, but I smiled and nodded, pretending to understand.

"Is this the one you want Ari?" My mother asked.

"Yes." I answered. I found myself thinking how it didn't matter if it was the one I, as the witch, had wanted, it was the wand who chose the witch or wizard, and this wand had chosen me.

"Very well," said Mr. Ollivander, "That will be 8 galleons." Mother paid for the wand, and then we were off again. The next thing we did was get my robes. It didn't take long and soon we moved to the small art supplies shop, where mother bought me two new sketch books, a set of simple sketching pencil and several various different pencil sets. I also got a bag that was large enough to fit my sketch books, and the pencils.

"Alright, I told your father that we'd meet him at Flourish and Blotts to get your books." My mother turned to me and told me, after we'd finished in the art shop, so off we went in the direction of the bookshop.

Upon arriving at the book shop, we found that quite a scene had unfolded. My father and Draco were standing and arguing with a familiar family of red heads. My father was holding a transfiguration book, along with another book that I could not read the title of. Looking it sent chills down my spine; it felt familiar yet dark at the same time.

"The company you keep, Weasley… and I thought your family could sink no lower-" He muttered to the red-haired man. The man lunged at my uncle, and they fell backwards into a bookshelf.

"Lucius!" My mother exclaimed. The men were then separated, and my father handed both books back to a young girl, who I remembered was named Ginny. No one else really noticed the book being added to the pile, so I partly assumed that it had been hers all long, despite feeling that it was all very wrong. My mother sent my father a dark look and he waited far away from the Weasley's while we collected all of our books.

"That was completely unnecessary! Why in Merlin's name did you do that for, Lucius?" My mother snapped at him once we had left the shop, her voice filled with intense frustration.

"Are you siding with those blood-traitors, Narcissa?" Father snapped back. Draco and I remained quiet as they bickered; something that was a rare occurrence in their usually happy marriage.

"No I am not 'siding with those blood-traitors', I just think that was an incredibly inappropriate time to pick a fight. The Ministry is still conducting raids. They've already got long-held suspicions about us, and now is not the time to draw attention and get ourselves on the hit list!"

"I know, Cissy, I know." My father mumbled, softening his tone a bit. If anyone could cause a reaction of any kind in my father, it was definitely my mother.

"The Weasley's were asking for it, defending Potter like that." Draco finally interrupted. My aunt sighed, as if to give in. _Like father, like son._ I heard, in what sounded like my mother's voice, even though she didn't open her mouth.

"Fine, let us just get whatever else we need, and leave. No more picking fights, even if whomever you decide to pick a fight with deserved it." And so we continued to make our way through Diagon Alley, getting the things needed for school. Finally, all the necessary school equipment was brought and we were about to leave when my mother turned to me.

"We almost forgot about getting you a pet!" She realized, and I smiled, I'd almost forgotten to. Draco was getting restless, so he and father decided to Floo home while mother and I went to the magical pet shop to get an animal. My mother would need to side apparate with me anyway, because we wouldn't be able to Floo with an animal.

"Hi there, how can I help you?" A middle-aged woman asked as we entered. She had a name tag that read 'Susan'.

"I'm here to get an animal to take to Hogwarts." I told the woman politely.

"Oh wonderful, if I remember correctly you can officially have a cat, an owl or a toad. However unofficially other small animals such as rats or ferrets have been allowed at Hogwarts before." Susan reminded me. I thought about it for a second, I knew I definitely didn't want a toad or a rat. Ferrets were cute, but could be difficult. The choice really was between an owl and a cat. I liked the idea of a cat, perhaps it could sleep with me at night. I didn't really need an owl as I could use the school owls or borrow Draco's.

"I think I would like a cat."

"Would you like a kitten or an older cat?" I thought about the question for a moment before making the decision.

"I think I'd like a kitten, so they can grow up and get used to me." I remarked.

"You're in luck, we just got some kittens that are just over two months old, come with me to take a look." I followed her until we reached the kittens she was talking about. There were four kittens, one of them was white with ginger patches, another was completely ginger, and a fluffy white one and sitting toward the back of the enclosure was another, ever so slightly smaller kitten. The two ginger ones were very curious, while the white sat to one side licking its paws, apathetic to us standing there, and the smaller one seemed to stand back, with an inquisitive look on its face. It was dark, almost black, with small patches of grey around its head and chocolate colour running through her body.

"I'd like that one," I said, pointing to the darker kitten.

"Uh, that little girl, not the most social of the litter, but I'm sure she'll grow out of it if she's treated right. She's the runt of the litter, but don't be alarmed, in most cases that I've seen, the runt always seems to come out stronger than its siblings." I looked to my mother.

"If you're sure Adhara, I like the white one personally."

"You could grab a kitten also if you'd like, Mrs. Malfoy." She contemplated the idea, before nodding.

"We will grab both then." She said and then paid for the two. After leaving the shop, she turned to me.

"Now what are you going to name her?"

"I'm not sure really, I was thinking something mythical. What are you going to name yours?" I said, before we apparated home. Draco was waiting in the drawing room for us; he wanted to see what I decided to get.

"Those better stay away from Aquila." Aquila was Draco's Eagle Owl. Ironically enough, Aquila was the name of a constellation that resembled a bird, which the name had derived from Zeus' pet eagle in ancient Greek mythology.

"Don't worry Draco; I'll make sure she stays away from Hermes." I offered.

"Don't worry Draco dear, Artemis here will stay far away from your owl." My mother chose to name her cate after a Greek deity, associated with the moon just as cats were.

"What are you going to name yours?" Draco asked me.

"I was thinking maybe Greek Myth as well, but I'm sure what name, got any ideas?" Draco came closer and took her out of the carriage.

"She's very dark, what about Nyx?" Nyx was an ancient Greek Goddess of the Night; the name seemed perfect.

"That's a great idea!" Draco handed her back to me, and I cuddled her as she purred.

"Welcome home, Nyx." I whispered. Despite the conflict in the book store, this had to be one of the best birthdays I'd had. "We're going to go to Hogwarts soon." I added, feeling my excitement bubble through.

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 **So originally I had gotten my owls confused, and accidentally gave Draco's owl the same name as Percy's. In my editing I've decided to rename the owl.**


	4. The Hogwarts Express

**Summary:** **Adhara Phoebe Black was raised to believe she was the daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, growing up alongside Draco as his sister. Expecting to begin her first year of Hogwarts as a Slytherin princess, things do not go according to plan and Ari begins to learn some things about herself and the people around her that start to make her question the life she lives.**

 **Copyright: I am not J.K. Rowling and therefore do not own anything recognised as belonging to the Harry Potter universe, I do however own Ari and anything else original in this story.**

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Riddled with Black  
Chapter Four – The Hogwarts Express  
 **September 1** **st** **, 1992**

The remaining week and a half of the summer went by extremely quickly. I spent most of the time interacting with Nyx, who quickly bonded with me. She'd grown so much is in such a short amount of time. I woke up earlier than usual in the morning, with her curled up on my chest. I'd intended to go for a shower first, before looking at the sunrise, hence the reason I wanted to be awake earlier. I quickly showered and watched the sunrise. After the sun had risen, I went down to breakfast, Nyx following me. Breakfast was filled with quiet conversation. After breakfast, Draco and I went upstairs to make sure we had everything packed. Soon it was time to leave, so with our suitcases and animals, we apparated as a group to the building that we'd left behind after collecting Draco from the station. We walked to King's Cross Station from there, and arrived with perfect timing to the catch the Hogwarts Express. After arriving at King's Cross station we have to go through to platform 9¾, which is accessible by a hidden barrier located on a wall near the ticket box between platforms nine and ten. Draco and I grabbed a trolley each and put our stuff on it, before heading towards the platforms. Nyx looked at me unhappily; she was in a cat carrier and hated the limited amount of space.

"Don't worry; I'll let you out once we're on the train." I whispered to her and she purred a little in response. After a short walk we found ourselves staring down at the barrier. I stared down the wall, I was really nervous, even though I'd done it the year before when Draco went to school, and then only a few months ago when he came back from Hogwarts. Draco went first with confidence, my father swaggering behind him.

"Do you want me to walk through the barrier with you?" Mother asked me, and I nodded. We both walked through the barrier together, making our way towards where Draco and father were waiting. A familiar rumbling sound could be heard as the Hogwarts Express arrived at Platform 9¾. I could not help to be amazed, even though I'd seen it before, the train was still marvelous to me. The platform was packed with countless students with their families, as the children waited to board the train that would take them to Hogwarts to begin another year of school. For me it was my first year, and I was anxious, but excited. My cousin Draco, who will be in his second year, had told me all about it. As we headed closer to the train, I noticed the large family from the bookstore.

"You see that family over there, Ari?" Draco asked me, and I nodded. "They're the Weasley's, they are muggle loving blood traitors, and that bushy haired girl is Granger, she's a mudblood." He whispered the last bit, so to not be overheard saying such a word out loud. Malfoy's had a reputation to uphold, and language like that was frowned upon these days in the great wizarding society.

"In other words, stay away from them." I summarized, and Draco nodded at my response. By this point we were at a doorway to get on the train, father helped us to put our stuff on the train, and we would look for a compartment shortly.

"Have a good time at Hogwarts, study hard, and don't associate with the wrong sort." Father muttered his typical words.

"Don't forget to write to us, both of you! And we'd love it if you came home for Christmas!" Mother followed, giving us both a hug.

"I will mother," I said. We then set off to find a compartment, which didn't take us very long. We got settled in the compartment, there was probably only five or ten minutes until the train was too leave.

"It's odd, I still see the Weasley's, but their missing one and Potty isn't there either." Draco complained as he peered out the window.

"Oh give it a rest Draco, you're my brother, and I love you, but I really do not want to hear anything more about Harry Potter right now." He just scowled at me in response. "What, you've been going on about him all summer." In between excitedly telling me all the really cool things at Hogwarts, Draco had spent the summer complaining about how much he hated Harry bloody Potter. It was driving me mental.

"Fine, do you mind staying here, while I go look for Crabbe and Goyle?" He questioned, however it felt like I had no choice and I nodded. I really didn't want to have to spend a train ride with the two of them, but I couldn't leave just yet. I grabbed my art book and some pencils out of my bag and had just started to sketch something when I heard a knock. I looked up and peering into the compartment was a girl who looked to be the same age as me with sandy coloured hair.

"Can I help you?" I asked her politely. She looked a bit unsure.

"Uh, is this compartment –?"

"Full, sorry." She glanced around the compartment. She looked a bit disheartened

"I know it doesn't look full at the moment, but my cousin's just left in search of his friends…"

"It's okay, I understand… my name's Eleanor, but call me Ella." Her hand outstretched. I felt really bad.

"Ari, short for Adhara," I said whilst shaking her hand. "Look, I'm sure they'll be room even when my cousin comes back with his friends, why don't you make yourself comfortable?" I offered, and watched as her hazel eyes lit up.

"That would be wonderful!" She put her stuff down and pulled out a sketchbook.

"Oh, you like to draw?" I asked, excited to find someone who shared the same passions I did.

"Oh I love all arts and crafts really, but I especially" She responded with a large grin on her face. "My parents are tattoo artists –"

"What is a tattoo?" I interrupted.

"Oh, its artwork, but its permanently put on the skin through the use of a needle." And then it dawned on me, that this was obviously a muggle thing, which implied that Ella either came from a muggle obsessed family, or she was muggle born.

"Are you muggleborn?" I asked, hoping that instead she would say she was at least a half blood.

"Yes, I am, is that a problem?" She asked, but started moving to pack her things up like she could sense that it probably was. I didn't get a chance to respond, because suddenly the door opened to reveal Draco, and sure enough behind him was Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy, and even Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott were along for the ride. Pansy looked Ella up and down.

"And who are you," She said, disgust dripping from her voice. She had heard our conversation.

"Who, me?" Ella asked, "I'm just leaving." And she grabbed her things and left without another word. I felt a pang in my chest. Even though she was muggleborn she seemed nice and I felt like I was really making my first friend outside of the ones I had grown up with.

"I found some extra people Ari, is that alright," Draco asked, even though he wouldn't really change his plans if I disagreed. I shrugged and got back to my drawing. The group started to move in and got comfortable. Nyx let out a soft meow; she wanted me to let her out. Pansy snapped to attention at the sound.

"Is there a cat in here?" She asked, her question ending with a sneeze. By this point I'd grabbed the cat carrier in order to let her out.

"Yes, this is Nyx, do you mind if I let her out?" I asked the question, even though I, like Draco, would do what I wanted anyway, even if the whole group said that they didn't want her out. I'll admit that its wealthy pureblood arrogance at its finest.

"Yes, I do mind! I'm allergic!" Pansy whined, and my day was made, I've never liked Pansy and any opportunity to get her skin I was willing to take. I started unlocking the carrier. "What are you doing, I said I'm allergic!"

"Oh well, I guess you'll just have to find another compartment as this one's just been contaminated with cat fur," I told her, as she jumped out the carrier and onto the seat. Pansy made this strange noise, a combination of a sneeze and a squeal.

"I will not find another compartment, put that thing away!" She demanded. I raised my eyebrows, how dare she call my cat a thing.

"No," I said simply, as Nyx finally curled up on the head rest of the seat right beside my head. Pansy stamped her foot, and it took every ounce of my control not to burst into laughter. She looked at Draco as if demanding he support her.

"Ari," Draco cautioned.

"Draco," I stubbornly retorted.

"Draco, please come to another carriage with me?" Pansy begged. Draco looked at me, then at Pansy, before returning to look at me. I was just happy to have convinced Pansy to go. Out of all the people in the pureblood circle, she was the only one I couldn't like. She was whiney and demanding. I much preferred the Greengrass girls, Daphne and Astoria.

"Just go with your girlfriend Draco, I probably won't do much talking," I joked, while pointing at the art book. He shrugged.

"She's not my girlfriend, but fine, we'll be back later." Pansy squealed with delight, her tantrum was quickly forgotten. The train had begun to move; Draco and Pansy, along with Crabbe and Goyle started to collect their stuff, and as they left, Draco started to rant to them.

"Bloody Potter, think he's so special getting a picture with Lockhart –" The sound became muffled as he continued down the corridor. I guess I was glad to get rid of Draco to, there was no way I wanted to deal with an entire day filled with Harry Potter ramblings. A few moments passed before Blaise opened his mouth, as he had Theodore had decided to stay.

"Honestly, we haven't even reached the grounds of Hogwarts yet, and Malfoy's already obsessing over Harry Potter. If I didn't know any better I'd think he fancied him." He quipped, and I resisted the urge to laugh.

"Oh, you have no idea, all summer, that's all I heard about. I'm kind of glad that he's gone with Pansy, if I can be perfectly honest." Blaise cocked one eyebrow, as if to say, really? "That and he's excitement for Quidditch this year, which in turn went back to Potter because he'd complain about how unfair it was that Potter got to play in first year." I understood this.

"Oh, I think most first years were pretty annoyed, but once you see Potter play, you understand why he was chosen." I nodded, compliments from Blaise Zabini were rare, which means they were honest and hard to argue with. Theodore also seemed to agree with Blaise.

"Did Draco tell you he'd be playing for Slytherin as a Seeker this year?" I said, changing the subject.

"How do you know that?" Theodore asked, with suspicious eyes.

"Well, he is a good player, the team needs a good seeker, and our father will be providing the whole team with Nimbus 2001's, apparently to upstage Harry Potter."

"Oh, Malfoy, where would he be without his father's money? Fancy broomsticks mean nothing if the players are talentless," Blaise said with a sneer. They may have been friends in some way, but he didn't follow Draco blindly the way Crabbe and Goyle had.

"Draco's a very good player, he should have no trouble getting on the team, and winning, with or without a fancy broom." I said coolly, taking his comment offensively.

"Well, I'll have you know, that I wasn't questioning Draco's talent on a broom, but more so the team itself. I'm thinking of going for Chaser myself, because the team is severely lacking in competent players. Perhaps Crabbe and Goyle could go for Beater positions, give the Weasley twin's a run for their money." He said, covering himself. I rolled my eyes and returned to drawing, he got out a book to read.

"So, joining us in Slytherin?" Theodore tried to continue the conversation.

"Should be," I said.

"I guess, even if you're not, it won't be that bad, you could still hang with the Slytherin group." He offered.

"Thanks," I smiled.

"It's not a problem; purebloods need to look out for each other at that school. Especially if you are sorted into another house, wouldn't want you to have to hang out with filthy mudbloods, just so long as you're not a hopeless Hufflepuff or an arrogant Gryffindor." I resisted the urge to snort at the idea of Theodore Nott calling another person arrogant. This only left two houses, Slytherin or Ravenclaw. Slytherin was the ambitious house, most pure bloods went there, while Ravenclaw was an academic house. I was worried because I was smart, but not that smart to be sorted into Ravenclaw, and I wasn't particularly ambitious enough about anything in order to be sorted into Slytherin. What if I was sorted into Hufflepuff? Or worse, Gryffindor where all of my brothers enemies were? I returned to sketching to try to ease my mind of my concerns.

"You lot are boring." Theodore commented before leaving to find the others.

It was about half way through the trip, when we were asked if we wanted to buy anything off the lolly trolley, when the silence stopped. We'd both brought a small amount of things, and I took the time to pause from my drawing. He'd already finished the book he'd been reading.

"So, you like to draw?" He asked, starting a conversation while we ate chocolate frogs.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" I asked with playful smile, "And you like to read, I see." He shrugged.

"Can I have a look?" He inquired, and I started to blush as I didn't like showing people my artwork.

"Uh no… It's a brand new sketch book and I've only done this one drawing so it's really not worth it." I didn't want Blaise to see it in particular, as he did have a nice profile, and the picture I'd drawn had been of him in deep concentration while reading his novel. Blaise nodded, accepting my excuse.

"Well, I'm off to go find some other people before we get there," He said, collecting his stuff and disappearing quickly. I shrugged, I didn't mind being alone. I continued with adding details to the drawing of Blaise while leaning my head against Nightshade, using him as a pillow. I enjoyed the silence that came with being alone, but little did I know it was the beginning of a long period where I would be alone at Hogwarts.

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 **Thank you for all the reviews, favourites and following.**

 **To the Guest that left a review on the last chapter, I'm sorry about the confusion in my typo's, I think I've corrected them all now. Lucius and Narcissa are Ari's aunt and uncle, as Ari is the daughter of Bellatrix Lestrange, Narcissa's sister. However, it recently occured to me as a really good plot point if they actually pretended to be her parents in order to protect her, as they now live in a world with a fallen Dark Lord and where the practices of being a Death Eater are frowned upon. So I was editing chapters to reflect this and missed a few spots here and there. Thank you for the review and I hope you find your way back to this story. :)**


	5. The Sorting Ceremony

**Summary:** **Adhara Phoebe Black was raised to believe she was the daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, growing up alongside Draco as his sister. Expecting to begin her first year of Hogwarts as a Slytherin princess, things do not go according to plan and Ari begins to learn some things about herself and the people around her that start to make her question the life she lives.**

 **Copyright: I am not J.K. Rowling and therefore do not own anything recognised as belonging to the Harry Potter universe, I do however own Ari and anything else original in this story.**

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Riddled with Black  
Chapter Five: The Sorting Ceremony

When I stepped out of the train I noticed a really tall, large man beckoning the first years. Draco had informed me that the large man's name was Hagrid, but he preferred to call him 'the half-giant dimwit'. I followed him along with the other first years, and he lead us to some small boats, telling us to have about three or four to a boat. I ended up in a boat with a blonde haired girl who had a dreamy expression on her face, a young boy with mousey-brown hair that was clutching a camera close to his face, and a red haired girl who I had recognized as being Ginny Weasley. Father had often ranted about how the Weasley's had too many children then they could afford, and I wondered just how many that was. I'd counted four when Draco had pointed them out to me at the station, and there had been others at the bookstore.

"Hello, I'm Colin Creevey, I just found out I was a wizard a couple of months ago, and since then I've been reading about Wizards and Hogwarts. I'm really excited."

"Really, I couldn't tell." I muttered sarcastically; how many muggleborns did this school allow?

"I'm Luna Lovegood; can I ask your name?" The blonde girl asked, sounding as dreamy as she looked. I raised my eyebrow.

"Adhara Black, but I'd rather be called Ari thanks."

"Really, are you part of _the_ Black family? Are you related to Sirius Black and Bellatrix Lestrange?" The boy asked.

"I'd rather you didn't say their names." I responded, although my disdain was for the blood traitor, Sirius.

"But are you?" He asked, unaffected by my avoidance. I let out a sarcastic laugh,

"Unfortunately, yes. Now leave me alone." Colin shrugged before turning to the red-haired Weasley girl.

"What's your name?" He asked her. The girl looked up at him and smiled.

"Oh, my name is Ginny, Ginny Weasley. And before you ask, it's short for Ginevra, not Virginia." The girl replied.

"How many of you are there?" I couldn't help myself. She glared at me, but still answered my question.

"I'm the youngest, I have six older brothers, and then there's my mum and dad." She replied, still glaring. I nodded. Suddenly Hogwarts came into view, and everybody gasped at its beauty. After a little bit longer we finally landed on shore and headed up to the castle. It suddenly dawned on me that I was about to be sorted. I started to feel really nervous as we walked along.

Hagrid led us to the front doors to the castle. Standing there to meet us was an older woman, with dark hair held in a bun underneath a witch's hat, with a long green dress.

"Thank you, Hagrid." She said, before he left.

"Good evening, students. I am Professor McGonagall, and I will be your Transfiguration teacher. Welcome to Hogwarts, the start of term banquet will be held very shortly, but before we start you need to be sorted into your houses. The Sorting Ceremony is very important because your house becomes like your family while you stay at Hogwarts. You will earn points for your house, have classes with your house, sleep in your house dormitories, and some of you may eventually play Quidditch for your house team." I grinned at the last part, even though I had to wait a year before I could try out to play, I really enjoy Quidditch and was excited for that time.

"The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house is headed by a member of the faculty, I am the head of Gryffindor, and the heads of the other houses will introduce itself to each new member sorted into their house. I hope you enjoy your time in your house. Follow me please." Professor McGonagall then turned around and we followed her through the large doors, and then through more large doors leading to the Great Hall. The Great Hall was incredibly large, and full of people. We walked straight through the centre of the room, the Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables to our left, the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables to our right; it felt as though everyone was looking at me. Finally we reached the end, where just before the teachers table was a stool with dark, old looking hat.

Upon our arrival, the sorting hat began to sing a song. The song was about the four different houses of Hogwarts and the stereotypical traits belonging to those houses. Gryffindor was for the brave, and sometimes foolhardy. Ravenclaw took the intelligent, and Hufflepuff was for the loyal. Slytherin had the cunning people, but the modern perception believed it to be evil.

"The Sorting will now begin. I will call your name from this list, and after you are sorted you will go straight to your house table." Professor McGonagall explained before unraveling some parchment. I knew I would be fairly early in the list, I just hoped I wasn't first.

"Abbey, Joseph." I small light skinned boy with light brown hair moved forward from the centre of the crowd. He turned around upon reaching the stool; eyes squeezed shut as the hat was placed on his head.

"HUFFLEPUFF" Almost instantly, the hat exclaimed his decision. Joseph jumped up and headed straight for the Hufflepuff table. Next to be called was Henry Ainsworth followed William Archer, who were both sorted into Gryffindor. Following them were two girls, Cecilia Armstrong and Florence Bishop, who were sorted into Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff respectively. I knew I had to be soon, with a last name starting with B.

Professor McGonagall paused before reading the next name, her face paling slightly. This must be me.

"Black, Adhara." She called. Instantly whispers started, mainly the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables. The teachers also shared looks of uncertainty, the only one with confidence being the Headmaster, who Draco had insinuated was crazy anyway. I walked up slowly from my position in the back of the group. Act confident; don't let anyone see that you are nervous and scared. I nodded to the Professor, before sitting down on the stool, she smiled at me, although it was strained, and placed the hat on my head, and I closed my eyes lightly. I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

 _Hello?_ I thought to the hat.

 **I didn't think I'd be seeing another Black again. Interesting that you are apparently a member of the Malfoy family but go by the surname Black. I must say I'm pleasantly surprised. Intelligence, hmm, quite a bit of a talent… there's some cunning in there, I'm not sure if there is enough to be a Slytherin though. You seem to want to prove yourself to other people, something I'm not sure you'll be able to do in Slytherin.**

 _Wait… hold up, what do you mean 'pleasantly' surprised… I'm from two of the darkest wizarding families around, how can that be pleasant for you?_ _As much as I supported pureblood activism, I knew exactly how many others had felt about my family._

 **Yes I am aware of that… and I am just going to point that I am a hat; I don't take part in the petty hate between houses and families, as amusing as it can be to see humanity flounder. Besides, you remind me a little of young Sirius Black, and he was certainly interesting to sort.**

 _I remind you of a blood traitor? Thanks._

 **It truly is a shame that you've been taught to be so hateful at such a young age. Perhaps you can change that during your stay at Hogwarts.**

 _And how exactly do you suppose I do that? What makes you think that I would even want to?_

 **Calm down child, first we must sort you. I see there is an expectation that you be in Slytherin… what do you think of that?**

Agitation flared up in me, I didn't care what was expected of me. I am my own person.

 _Shouldn't you be able to tell? Personally, I don't really care about it all. If I fit in Slytherin, I fit… if I don't, as you are suggesting, then I'd rather not go there just because my family wants it to be. I want to be myself._

 **I sensed your feelings in that statement. You seem to resent your family a bit?**

 _I do not resent them! … And I don't disagree with their views; I'm just a little uncomfortable with what they've done to show it. I don't want to be like that. I don't understand how someone could torture another person, especially one with children! Or murder over blood… We are superior, but why should be abuse our power?_

 **Well, I don't think that Slytherin is the place for you. You have so much potential, and you won't grow there. And trust me; you have a long way to grow.**

 _Well where do I belong than?_

 **Well, I did say that you remind me of Sirius Black. There's that spark of defiance… the refusal to follow. The disapproval of actions, you might not have fully decided to drop the value of blood status, but you're on the way to becoming who you need to be.**

 _Hey, I thought you said you didn't care about 'petty hate'?_

 **I don't, but that doesn't mean I don't have an opinion.**

 _Well… technically, it does. You have to care in order to form an opinion._

 **Argumentative… you do realize you are only solidifying my opinion on your sorting?**

 _Sort me than, what is it? You said intelligent before, would Ravenclaw be it?_

 **You are intelligent, but I do not think that Ravenclaw will bring everything out in you.**

 _I just want you to know that I am my own person, and I will remain so regardless of what house I am sorted into!_

 **Oh yes, I hope so… I really think you would benefit from this house…**

I took a deep breath, the implications from the conversation with the sorting hat sinking in.

"GRYFFINDOR" Boomed the sorting hat, I opened my eyes; the first place I looked was Draco, who scowled. This was going to be trouble. He would have been okay if I'd gone into Ravenclaw, even Hufflepuff. He'd be happy with anything but Gryffindor. Although it was delayed, the reaction of my sorting was more noticeable than the reaction to my name. Professor McGonagall gasped slightly, taken aback by the sorting. The hall was silent for a few moments, before two identical boys with red hair, who I recognised as being part of the Weasley group, from the Gryffindor table stood up and clapped. After a few seconds the rest of the Gryffindor table joined in. Jumping up, I rushed to join them; I wanted the attention to be away from me as soon as possible. The boys first introduced themselves as Gred and Forge, but after my look of confusion as such ridiculous names they revealed their names were really Fred and George Weasley. They then introduced to me to their older brother Percy. I remained polite, even though sitting with them made me uncomfortable. I didn't want to make enemies on the very first day, especially now that I had sorted away from everything I had ever known. After regaining her composure, Professor McGonagall continued.

"Bronx, Lachlan." He was sorted into Hufflepuff. Meredith Cornwall was sorted into Ravenclaw.

"Creevey, Colin." The muggleborn boy from the boat stood up, shaking with anticipation.

"GRYFFINDOR" The hat exclaimed after only a few short moments; fantastic. He was joined by Adam Fairburn, while Isaac Dalton and Valerie Fisher were sorted into Ravenclaw, and Brendan Delaney was the first to be sorted into Slytherin.

"Goodwin, Eleanor." McGonagall called, and the girl I had seen on the train made her way slowly up to the hat, seeming very nervous. The hat seemed to take a bit of time with her. She paled while sitting there.

"SLYTHERIN" The hat shouted and a more paled Eleanor made her way over to the green and silver table. Calisto Greengrass, cousin to Astoria and Daphne, was unsurprisingly sorted into Slytherin. Daphne cheered. Calisto was joined by Sebastian Hill and Samantha Hugh, while Melinda Howard was sorted into Hufflepuff.

"Ingham, Evelyn." A taller girl with light brown hair sat down to be sorted, and soon she sat beside me. Next to be called was Tobias Ingham, which Evelyn was quick to point was her cousin. They had similar facial features, but Tobias had lighter hair. He was sorted into Hufflepuff, and another person named Maxwell Johnson was sorted into Ravenclaw.

"Lovegood, Luna" The other girl from the boat walked up, a dreamy expression on her face. Surprisingly it didn't take long for the hat to sort her into Ravenclaw. Identical twin brothers, Duncan and Ronan Macalister were both sorted into Hufflepuff. Isla O'Brien joined us at the Gryffindor table, taking a seat beside Evelyn and introducing herself.

"Parkinson, Basil." Pansy's younger brother stepped forward and was quickly sorted into Slytherin. He was joined by Dominic Quigley and Emilia Rosier, while Isobel Sterling became a Gryffindor. Loretta Ramsay, Francesca Smith and Rosetta Wakefield were sorted into Hufflepuff, while Olivia Pocatello, Oscar Reynolds and Conner Whelan joined Ravenclaw.

"Weasley, Ginevra." This caught my attention, I guess despite being from a 'blood traitor' family, the girl made me curious. Especially seeing as uncle Lucius had put a book that wasn't hers in her collection. The hat seemed to take a while to decide, and it seemed as though Ginevra was pleading with it.

"GRYFFINDOR" The hat finally decided. This got a loud cheer from everyone on the table; I hadn't expected anything less. Christopher Williams was then sorted into Ravenclaw, and Wilhelmina Yates completed the Sorting Ceremony with her placement in Slytherin. McGonagall waited until she was seated before speaking.

"The Sorting Ceremony is now complete; I will pass your attention on to our Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore." She went to sit down, as the Headmaster stood up.

"Welcome, to a new year at Hogwarts. I would like to remind you that the Forbidden Forest is, as its name suggests, forbidden to all students. I would also like to introduce to you, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart." This caused in excited stir amongst many of the female students, while some of the guys groaned. "May the feast begin" Dumbledore ended his speech and suddenly, food appeared on the table. I realized how hungry I was getting, but part of me felt too sick to my stomach to eat. How was I going to tell my aunt and uncle about being sorted in Gryffindor? How were they going to react? Would they disown me? I started to panic inside but knew I had to keep it together.

"Are you going to eat anything?" I looked up at the voice, it was a Weasley, one of the identical ones, and even though they'd just introduced themselves to me, I couldn't remember which one. I smile faintly and nod, taking a look at what there was to eat. Giving into my empty stomach, I take a small amount of everything, just to give it all a try. A bushy haired girl appeared, I recognised her from the train as being friends with the Weasley's.

"Have any of you seen Ron and Harry?" She directed her question at the general vicinity of the Weasley siblings.

"We have no idea," Fred began.

"They weren't even on the train," George finished. I raised my eyebrows, first day back and Harry Potter had already gotten himself into trouble? I couldn't wait to talk to Draco. I would send an owl to my parents in the morning, if Draco didn't beat me to it, but for tonight I would relax.

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	6. Welcome to Gryffindor

**Summary:** **Adhara Phoebe Black was raised to believe she was the daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, growing up alongside Draco as his sister. Expecting to begin her first year of Hogwarts as a Slytherin princess, things do not go according to plan and Ari begins to learn some things about herself and the people around her that start to make her question the life she lives.**

 **Copyright: I am not J.K. Rowling and therefore do not own anything recognised as belonging to the Harry Potter universe, I do however own Ari and anything else original in this story.**

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Riddled with Black  
Chapter Six: Welcome to Gryffindor

After the feast Dumbledore announced for prefects to take the first years to their house common rooms, with the aim to inform us about the dormitories and passwords. The rest of the school would follow shortly. There was ten first years, five boys and five girls. +

"The password is currently bumblebee but whenever the password changes it will be put on the notice board in the common room." Percy said we came across the portrait of the Fat Lady, which lead to Gryffindor Tower. The portrait swung open, revealing a circular hole that lead down a hallway, with another circular hole for an exit. We all climbed through and assembled in front of a fireplace that took up most of the far wall. On both sides of this fire place were two large windows that overlooked the castle grounds. The common room itself was also circular and well decorated with scarlet and occasionally gold tapestries. There were many chairs and couches scattered about the room, as well as some tables for studying.

"As you can see, there are three doorways leading from this room. The doorway to your far left opens up to the spiral staircase for the girls dormitories. The one to your far right leads to the boys. In the middle we have a moderate sized room, with litter boxes, feeding bowls for cats, as well as some food and snacks for other pets." Percy said all this while indicating with his hands. I noticed that the middle door did indeed have a cat flap. "Each dormitory is sorted by year level; each landing is a different year level; there will be signs saying 'First Year', 'Second Year'; etc."

"If you did have a cat on the train, you will find that he or she is in the cat room. Everyone's luggage has been taken up to your dormitory for you to decide where to put it. Does everybody understand?" We all nodded or said yes before wondering off. I first went to see Nyx, who had fallen asleep on one of the cat beds. I walked up to her and started patting her head; she woke with a surprisingly content face.

"Hey girl, do you think that you'll like it here?" I asked softly while patting her, and she purred in response. "I have to go organise my stuff now." She jumped down and followed me as I left to go to my dorm room.

There was only five of us first year Gryffindor girls, and in the time that we were eating dinner, the room assigned to first years, which was located on the first landing of the staircase, had been organised to have five four-posted beds with red and gold sheets. Our luggage had been placed neatly for us to grab as we chose our beds. Before I'd even picked a bed, Nyx had jumped on a bed close to a large window, which overlooked the grounds. Even in a few short weeks, she'd become accustomed to my morning habit of watching the sunrise. I settled for that bed, and everyone else chose theirs. We all quickly and quietly packed all our clothes and books away. There were two doors out of the room; the one we'd come from that lead to the staircase and another which lead to a bathroom with two toilet stalls, and two private shower rooms.

"So, seeing as we're going to living together for the majority of the next seven years, we should probably introduce ourselves properly and get to know each other." Came from the girl who chose the bed to my left. She was tall, even taller than me, with straight golden blonde hair, and dark eyes. She talked with an accent. I remembered from the sorting that her name was Isobel.

"Right, I'll start. My name is Isobel Sterling; I'm a pure-blood not that it really matters any more" She introduced herself confidently. "My father is actually American, while my mother is French. They met here in England as they both work for the Department of International Affairs at the Ministry, and I was born here. I've travelled a lot though. My mother was Head Girl at Beauxbatons while my father had a very successful Quidditch Career while at Ilvermony. I have a younger brother named James, he's eight." She finished and looked from her left to her right, her eyes settling on me, as if to say it was my turn. I didn't know what to say. While it would have been cool in a Slytherin Dormitory, 'my family supported the Dark Lord' was not exactly appropriate to brag about to Gryffindors.

"Can I go last? I have no idea what to say." Isobel sighed and switched her attention to her left.

"Hi, I'm Isla, I have a bit of mixture of magic and muggle in my background. Both my parents were in Hufflepuff and have become Healers." Isla was also of mixed race with a darker brown skin complexion and dark hair.

"Right. So I'm Evelyn, and I'm pretty hopeless when it comes to keeping track of this blood stuff. My cousin Tobias got sorted into Hufflepuff. Here's the thing, neither mine nor Toby's parents are magical. When we got our letters, our grandmother admitted she was a 'Squib'. I have an older half-brother Jacob who isn't magical because he's on my mum's side. He doesn't really talk to me anymore." A Squib was a child of two magical folk that did have any magic. The idea made me uncomfortable, because like blood traitors, Squibs were also disowned and removed from my family tree. Evelyn shrugged to say she was done.

"That is really interesting," Isobel remarked. I agreed, I was sort of fascinated by all these different backgrounds. We all turned out attention to Ginny, who sat on the bed to my right. She wasn't really paying attention to anyone; instead she was writing in her diary. Looking at it more closely I noticed it was the same book that Uncle Lucius had put in her bucket. Perhaps it really was hers after all. I couldn't shake the bad feeling about it off though, so I decided to keep an eye on it. Isobel let out a 'cough' and Ginny's head shot up to attention.

"Oh, sorry," She said hurriedly. "My name is Ginny, Ginny Weasley… I have six older brothers, who were all sorted into Gryffindor; only four of them are still here though." She seemed really shy now.

"Oh, that must be fun, what are their names?" Evelyn asked.

"Well the oldest is Bill; he's in Egypt at the moment because he works for Gringotts. Next is Charlie who works with dragons in Romania. You just met Percy the Prefect, and then there are the twins, Fred and George; watch out for them though they like to prank people. Last but not least is Ron, he's in the year above us and –"

"Isn't he like, Harry Potter's sidekick?" Isobel interrupted. Ginny has seemed happier, more confident talking about her brothers. Yet, Isobel's interruption had put her back in her shell a little bit, she blushed.

"No, he is not his sidekick. They're best friends." She responded, before looking back down at her diary. She wasn't going to say anymore. I guess it was my turn now.

"Uh, well I'm Adhara. Adhara Black… but please, just call me Ari." I said quickly. "My parents are Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy, and my older brother is Draco, the year above us in Slytherin."

"How in Merlin's beard did you end up in Gryffindor, I'm sure everyone expected that you'd be in Slytherin!" Isla exclaimed, obviously surprised. I thought back to my conversation with the sorting hat, 'you have so much potential… a spark of defiance', it had also said that I wanted to prove myself.

"I don't really know, I guess I'm just different." I answered, even though I didn't feel all that different. My thoughts and my values were still the same as they were yesterday, I was still a member of an elite Pureblood family.

"If you're a Malfoy, why is your surname Black?" Isobel pondered out loud.

"Because my mother's maiden name is Black, and due to the lack of Black's left in the Wizarding World, they decided that regardless of gender any child after Draco was going to have the surname Black because they already have a Malfoy heir."

"Well that makes sense then, do they have any other children after you?" Isobel continued.

"No, unfortunately my mother was quite unwell with both pregnancies so they decided not to have any more children."

"Oh, what will you do when you have children then?"

"What do you mean?"

"Will you carry on the surname Black or take on your husband's name?" Isobel continued to ask like it was an ordinary conversation.

"I haven't thought about that at all," Isobel just shrugged and left it at that. While I hadn't personally thought of marriage, I do know that it is something pure bloods do think of early on. My parent's marriage had been arranged, as had her sister and her husbands. There were no more questions after that, and I guess most of us were really tired, because we all started getting ready for bed. I decided to quickly go for a shower first, and when I got out I found Nyx hovering at the door waiting to jump in and lick the water off the ground. Not long after I'd gotten into my pajamas and warmed up in bed, she was done and decided to join me and I found myself drifting off to sleep quicker than I thought.

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	7. Blood and Water

**Summary:** **Adhara Phoebe Black was raised to believe she was the daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, growing up alongside Draco as his sister. Expecting to begin her first year of Hogwarts as a Slytherin princess, things do not go according to plan and Ari begins to learn some things about herself and the people around her that start to make her question the life she lives.**

 **Copyright: I am not J.K. Rowling and therefore do not own anything recognised as belonging to the Harry Potter universe, I do however own Ari and anything else original in this story.**

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Riddled with Black  
Chapter Seven: Blood and Water

I woke up earlier than the others the next morning so I could get first shower. I hurried through that and putting my clothes on. When I returned to the dorm room, everyone else was starting to wake up and the sun was just starting to light up the Hogwarts grounds. I grabbed some parchment and a quill and began to write a letter to my parents, deciding it was better to get it over and done with.

 _Dearest mother and father,_

 _I hope this letter finds you both well. I'm writing to inform you that I was sorted into Gryffindor. I hope that you are not too disappointed in me. I know to stay away from the wrong sort._

 _Love, Ari._

I kept it short and sweet, not really knowing what else to say. I had this sick feeling in my stomach that they would be mad at me and call me a traitor. That I possibly won't have a home to go back to. I put the letter in an envelope, and headed out of the dormitory. I walked down to the common room, standing in front of the still-lit fireplace. Not long after, a boy with golden blonde hair and brown eyes approached me.

"Hey, my name is Isaac, you're Adhara, yeah?" He said, holding his hand out for a handshake. I shook his hand to be polite.

"Yeah, that's my name, just call me Ari though."

"Oh, that'll be easy to remember… it's interesting because that is my older brothers name."

"Really, does he go here?"

"No, he graduated last year; he was a Gryffindor as well. I think my parents choose it deliberately, to leave an impression on him or something."

"Oh, what makes you think that?"

"Both my parents were in Gryffindor, and Ari is a Hebrew name meaning lion," He paused and I raised my eyebrows; interesting. Two more boys from the first year came down the staircase.

"Are you coming to breakfast with us Isaac?" One with dark hair asked.

"Yeah I am," Isaac responded before turning to me, "Care to come to breakfast with us?" I nodded and followed him. However, the dark haired boy stopped him.

"She can't come with us."

"Why?" Isaac asked.

"Do you even know who her family is?"

"Adam, we're in Gryffindor, why would we judge people based on what family they come from, that's for those in Slytherin." Isaac defended me while I resisted the urge to hit the boy. "Obviously she's different if she's been sorted into Gryffindor." He added.

"I'm sorry, but you know my mum's a healer at St Mungo's. She works in the ward for the mentally unstable. Do you know what her aunt and uncle did?" This got my attention though, and feeling brave, I asked a question before Isaac could respond, however I knew he was going to support his 'shouldn't judge people by their parents' argument.

"What did they do?" Adam looked at me.

"What do you mean, 'what did they do', you know that Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange are in Azkaban, right?" He snapped.

"Yes, I know that, but I don't know why, I'd just assumed it was because the Dark Lord was defeated and they put away because they were followers."

"Are you serious?" He asked, eyes widening. "They weren't just followers, they in his most loyal circle."

"I knew that to, but believe it or not my parents do not like to share with me what they did."

"Do you want to know what I learnt from my mum?" He said; his voice a bit softer. I nodded.

"Okay, well one night I overheard my mum talking to my dad about two of her patients: Frank and Alice Longbottom. It saddened her how there was no improvement in the ten years they'd been there, and how they're probably never will be. So the next day I asked her about it and at first she didn't want to tell me, but then decided it was safer for me to know about the dark things that happen in the world." I nodded for him to continue.

"On the same night that Harry Potter defeated He Who Must Not Be Named, four of his most loyal death eaters attacked another family; the Longbottom's. Three of those four Death Eaters were Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange. The group cast the Cruciatus Curse on Frank and Alice so many times, that they were driven completely and utterly insane. They don't even know who they are or that they even have a son together."

"Oh," Was all I could say. Oh. Suddenly I noticed a boy who looked a bit older than me. He looked at me, than at Adam, looked back at me before rushing out of the common room.

"That's Neville." Adam said. "Neville Longbottom, Frank and Alice's son." I sat down; this was all too much. Why hadn't my parents told me this? Instead of leaving me to find out from someone else's mouth. How any of this was deemed acceptable was beyond me.

"You're forgetting one thing Adam; this is Ari, not Bellatrix. She's in Gryffindor, not Slytherin. You shouldn't judge her because of her family." Isaac emphasized.

"Isaac's right; I'm Eric by the way." The other boy, who had dark blonde hair, had remained silent throughout the conversation. I nodded. Adam still didn't look convinced.

"It doesn't matter, I appreciate the offer Isaac but I was going to go to the owlery first and send a letter, go on without me."

"Okay, maybe later then," And the boys left. I was alone for long however.

"Well look here George, it's the quiet girl from last night."

"What was her name again, Fred?"

"My name is Adhara, but please call me Ari," I replied curtly. It was the Weasley twins.

"Hi Ari," They responded in unison. I decided to make use of them.

"Can you tell me where the owlery is?" They looked at each other.

"I don't know, can we George?"

"Maybe Fred, depends on if she uses the magic word."

"Can you please tell where the owlery is?"

"We'll do one better,"

"We'll show you!" Great, I would be seen socializing with blood traitors outside the common room. Sighing, I accepted their offer and followed them out, hoping we wouldn't stumble across Draco or any of his friends.

"Sending a letter to your family about which house you got into?" One of the twins asked. I nodded. I think this twin was named George. Even though they were identical there was something about them that was individual. George seemed nicer.

"That's gotta be rough, I think there has only ever been one other Black not sorted into Slytherin, and I don't think there has ever been Malfoy sorted outside of Slytherin either." The other twin, Fred, added.

"Oh well, maybe I'll get disowned." I tried to joke, even though I was genuinely concerned that it was an option. George stopped, while Fred had kept on walking.

"You wouldn't really get disowned, would you?" George asked, and I shrugged.

"I would ask if you've met my father, but I'm pretty sure you did at Diagon Alley. Anything is possible." He contemplated what I said. We'd arrived at the Owlery. I sent off my letter while they waited for me.

"I hope you don't get disowned." George said to me, as we walked towards the Great Hall for breakfast. I nodded

"I'm sure it will be fine," I tried to reassure him. "You guys go up ahead, I'll take some exploring." I said as we got closer.

"Why, afraid to be seen with us?" Fred asked, eyebrow raised. I blinked.

"Not at all." I answered automatically, I was too nice to say the things my father or Draco said, even if I sometimes thought them. "I'll explore later I guess, I'm pretty hungry." So I followed them in, and sat beside them. I tried to avoid looking at the Slytherin table, knowing for sure I would be better with a disapproving glance.

Sitting down for breakfast, it wasn't long before I discovered there hadn't been a need to send a letter. I received mail from an imposing looking owl I knew to be parents, and grimaced, not really wanting to open it.

"Well it doesn't appear to be a Howler, so I see no harm in opening it." Fred remarked.

 _Dearest Adhara,_

 _I received a letter from Draco last night, telling us you'd been sorted into Gryffindor. At first we weren't sure if he was serious or not, but we know Draco would never make something like that up. I must admit, I'm awfully surprised, and you're father is a little bit disappointed; but never mind him, I'm sure he's more concerned about how it affects his reputation. He doesn't know I'm writing this letter; and as much as I love the both of you, I'd like to keep it that way._

 _Now, as surprised as I am about your sorting, I know that the hat wouldn't have put you there if he didn't think that you belong there. As long as you are happy, I am happy. Just remember to stick by your values and loyalties, and that blood is thicker than water._

 _Lots of love,_

 _Mother._

I sighed in relief; it was good to know that my mother wasn't angry with me, and father would so get over it.

After breakfast Professor McGonagall gave me my timetable and I headed to my first class for the day, which was potions. Gryffindor and Slytherin had potions together, and in just my first lesson I'd discovered that Professor Snape had something against the Gryffindor house. He mostly gave points to Slytherin, even if Gryffindor students had perfectly good responses. He begrudgingly gave me ten house points for a correct answer, but was quick to take them away again when I messed up my potion. After Potions there was short break before we had Charms with Ravenclaw, and following lunch we had Herbology with the Hufflepuff. It wasn't noticeable in Charms, because we all had individual desks to work at; it became very obvious in Herbology that some students felt very uncomfortable around me. No one would stand close towards me, and some were hesitant to respond to anything I said. The only person who seemed willing to talk to me at all that day was Luna, the odd girl from the boat ride. Everyone seemed to treat her like an outcast as well. Only on my first day and I could see this year wasn't going to be as fun as I had previously imagined.

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 **So Ari is starting to learn more about her family and starting to form her own opinions.**

 **Thank you for all the reviews and following and favourites so far, would love to hear what you think of the latest update.**


	8. An Unexpected Connection

**Summary:** **Adhara Phoebe Black was raised to believe she was the daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, growing up alongside Draco as his sister. Expecting to begin her first year of Hogwarts as a Slytherin princess, things do not go according to plan and Ari begins to learn some things about herself and the people around her that start to make her question the life she lives.**

 **Copyright: I am not J.K. Rowling and therefore do not own anything recognised as belonging to the Harry Potter universe, I do however own Ari and anything else original in this story.**

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Riddled with Black  
Chapter Eight: An Unexpected Connection

Weeks passed and everyone fell into a comfortable rhythm of getting up early for breakfast, before going to our classes and doing homework. We had Herbology three times a week, and Astronomy at midnight on Wednesdays. Social connections had begun to form with in the houses. At the start I had tried to study with the boys, but even after our conversation on the first day it was obvious I still made Adam uncomfortable so I decided to start studying alone. I found the girls to be a bit over the top, especially Isobel. Sometimes I noticed that Ginny was also there alone, writing in her diary. The diary left me with an incredibly uncomfortable feeling, but I couldn't put my name it exactly. At lunch I occasionally hung out with Pansy, Daphne and Millicent Bulstrode, but I think this further cemented my own houses opinion of me, so I tried to keep it to a minimum, only hanging out with them every now and again to keep up appearances with my brother.

For the first few weeks, other people tended to avoid me, treating me as if I was about to Crucio them right there on the spot. I don't think that they had quite grasped the fact I hadn't even been taught that spell yet, but I guess that didn't matter to them. The only person that seemed comfortable enough to hold a long term conversation, and work with me in classes, was Isaac. Sometimes the Weasley twins would talk to me, seemingly unfazed by who I was, along with Luna. While I found the isolation and general treatment irritating at the same time, I did appreciate that it meant I could get my schoolwork done with little distraction.

Once a week mother sent me some chocolates and sweets that I would usually share with whomever I was sitting with at the time, which quite often than not was the Weasley twins. Seeing as the treats still kept coming, and I hadn't received a Howler, Draco had obviously chosen not to write back home about my 'traitorous behaviour' as father would most likely put it. I had to admit, they were funny, and it was nice to have people not treat me like I was going to hurt them.

It wasn't long into the term when there was announcement to say that would be starting to have Quidditch practices. I buzzed with excitement, I enjoyed playing Quidditch whilst growing up with Draco, and it was proper practice sessions that I looked forward to the most at Hogwarts. When I arrived at the Quidditch pitch I learnt that Gryffindor and Slytherin had their flying lesson together. The two houses lined up, facing each other. I had Ginny to my right. Directly across from me was Eleanor from the train, who had been sorted in Slytherin.

"Good afternoon, students." Madame Hooch called. As a group we said good afternoon back.

"Now as you know, as first years you are not allowed on the Quidditch team, or to have your own broomstick." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone raised their hand and I knew they were going to ask about Harry Potter. Madam Hooch must have known to because she quickly started to add to her sentence.

"Although you cannot be in the team, aside from special circumstances, you can learn, so next year you can be in a team."

"Now I want you to stand by your broom, and using your right hand to command it, I want you to say 'Up'." We readied ourselves.

"Up," I commanded confidently, and sure enough the broom flew comfortably into my hands. I noticed Ginny, who was beside me, had also managed to get hers come up straight away. Eleanor appeared to be struggling, looking fearfully at the broomstick.

"The trick is to not be afraid," I told her, and she looked up with a raised eyebrow, before shrugging and looking back down at her broom.

"Up," She said, slightly more confident. The broom moved a little bit, but did not follow the direction of up.

"There is no use helping that filthy mudblood," A tall girl with strawberry blonde hair stood directly in front of Eleanor, I recognized her instantly as Callisto Greengrass, cousin of Daphne and Astoria. Eleanor looked very defeated after Callisto's insult. I flashed her glance, she'd seemed like a nice girl and now friendship with her was being completely ruled out.

"Don't you ever use that word," Ginny snapped in response. It surprised me; she'd been very quiet in these first few weeks. Calisto turned her attention towards her, looking at her from head to two. Callisto was an easy four inches taller than Ginny.

"You've got red hair and freckles, tolerant of mudbloods. You must be a Weasley. Why do you think I'd listen to you, you traitorous brat." It took all of my will power not to snort; it had suddenly dawned me that all pure blooded children sounded the same. Then I realized that I often sounded just like them. Ginny glared at Calisto, and probably would have continued snapping at her had the argument not attracted Madam Hooch's attention. Everyone acted like nothing was happening and Madam Hooch walked away. Callisto opened her mouth to say something else nasty.

"That's enough, Greengrass." I stopped her. She glared at me. I thought I heard her mumble something along the lines of me being a blood traitor, and that she would telling Draco.

"Do you want to repeat that?" I demanded.

"I didn't say anything," She snapped back, looking confused. I shook my head. Had I imagined it?

The lesson seemed to go by very quickly after that, with everyone able to fly a few feet above the ground by the end of the lesson. Eleanor continued to look upset for the rest of the lesson, and ran off the moment that she was free to go. I noticed later on that day that she'd didn't turn up for a dinner.

The next day was a fairly nice day, and I decided to spend my time outside. I ended up with the Slytherin girls of first and second year, who mostly gossiped. I sometimes participated in the conversations, but often sat there to draw. We were walking towards the lake, and we weren't alone. Up ahead, skipping stones across the lake was Eleanor.

"This should be fun," Pansy exclaimed. Daphne and Callisto chuckled, Millicent smiled.

"Oi, mudblood!" She called, and the others laughed more out right when Eleanor turned to look at them, her eyes wide. I stopped, while the other walked closer towards her. She looked at me, her eyes pleading for me to help or provide some kind of distraction. I don't know how I knew it, but something told that she wanted to be left alone, that she wanted peace. I stood, and I did nothing. She looked away again. Of course I wouldn't help her. She started to collect her things to leave.

"Don't ignore us, you muggle," Daphne drawled.

"Can you just leave me alone? What have I ever done to you?" Eleanor tried to defend herself.

"Existed," Callisto answered. I frowned, was this really necessary? Eleanor made a run for it; she was not the confrontational type. The girls laughed, but didn't follow her. They'd decided that caused enough of a disruption for now. I was left with a sick feeling in my stomach. I was reminded of how Adam had made me feel on my first day, and Isaac defending me and saying that judging people for their family was a Slytherin thing to do.

Eleanor didn't show up to potions after lunch, and also wasn't at dinner again. Why was she avoiding meals? There was no one in Gryffindor who would harass her, although I noticed she hadn't really connected with anyone. Much like me, she was alone. I decided that next time I would see her, I would talk to her. Finishing my dinner, I decided to explore the castle. I walked around a great portion of the castle, taking in many details. At some point I found myself near the girl's toilets on the second floor. The toilets that no one ever entered because they belonged to a ghost named Moaning Myrtle, a girl who had mysteriously died at Hogwarts. As I walked past, I heard crying. It didn't sound like the usual moaning sounds, it sounded like genuine crying. Curiosity got the better of me, and I walked in.

Sitting against the sinks with her head buried in her knees was a girl with sandy coloured hair. It took me a few seconds, but suddenly I recognized her; it was Eleanor. Had she been in here all this time?

"Hello?" I said softly, and she looked up, tears streaming from her powdery blue eyes. She looked back down.

"What do you want?" She said quietly. I didn't really know how to answer. Perhaps she thought I was there to torment her.

"I came to see who was crying,"

"Oh." She didn't elaborate. I moved closer towards her, surprised that Moaning Myrtle wasn't here.

"What are you doing here?" I asked as gently as I could manage, I kneeled beside her. The question seemed stupid, I knew what was wrong.

"They don't follow me in here; they don't like Moaning Myrtle."

"Who doesn't follow you?" I already knew the answer.

"The other girls in Slytherin, they don't like me and they bully me whenever I'm alone, and sometimes even in class… you were there today, you did nothing to help!" She sat up a bit and started to wipe he eyes.

"You're probably hate me; I've read about your family…" She trailed off. Somehow, this crying muggle born girl had made me suddenly feel guilty. I realized I didn't hate her, she'd done nothing to me, and instead I hate the Slytherin girls for making her feel that way. I hadn't cried yet, but there were many times I almost came close to.

"I don't hate you," I said softly. "I just don't know…" We sat in silence for a while. I took a deep breath to speak.

"My whole life I've been raised to believe I was better than everyone else because of the family I was born into. I don't agree with how those girls treat you."

"It's okay, you'd be putting a lot on the line to defend me, I understand." Eleanor mumbled. It was in that moment that I made a decision that I felt I may come to regret.

"No Eleanor, it's not okay, we are very similar, you and me."

"How so?" She asked.

"You are a muggleborn, and you were sorted into Slytherin, and I come from an elitist pureblood family and I was sorted in Gryffindor. We don't really fit into our houses because of this."

"Oh,"

"Let's be friends," I said, standing up and holding my hand out to her, which she accepted. _If you're sure._ I thought I heard her mumble.

"I am sure," I said firmly, even though I was nervous that this was quite possibly the stupidest thing I've ever decided to do. She looked at me weirdly.

"I was thinking that, I didn't actually say it though." She remarked. I shrugged.

"That's been happening a lot lately, do you want to get some food?" Eleanor nodded and we headed towards the kitchens.

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 **I hope people don't think her friendship with Eleanor has come to quickly, they will struggle as friends for a while.**


	9. Halloween

**Summary:** **Adhara Phoebe Black was raised to believe she was the daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, growing up alongside Draco as his sister. Expecting to begin her first year of Hogwarts as a Slytherin princess, things do not go according to plan and Ari begins to learn some things about herself and the people around her that start to make her question the life she lives.**

 **Copyright: I am not J.K. Rowling and therefore do not own anything recognised as belonging to the Harry Potter universe, I do however own Ari and anything else original in this story.**

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Riddled with Black  
Chapter Nine: Halloween

A few weeks later, Hogwarts castle was well decorated with lit pumpkins, cobwebs with fake spiders, and other Halloween décor. Being a place for witches and wizards, naturally Hogwarts celebrated the holiday. Fortunately it falls on a Saturday, so rather than be sitting in a classroom; we were free to do whatever we wanted. It was later afternoon when I sat in the library with Eleanor as we worked on our homework. We were very boring people. I had stopped hanging out with the other Slytherin girls, and did my best to avoid them. I'd been a lot happier for it and more of the people in my house had started to talk to me.

"Are you excited for the Feast? I heard that Dumbledore booked a band of skeletons to perform." Eleanor asked me as we begun to pack up our things.

"I guess. My family never really celebrated Halloween. We paid our respects and stuff, but not like this. It'll be different." Eleanor nodded.

When we found ourselves at the door of the Great Hall; pretty much everyone was there. We sat down together at the Gryffindor table; I noticed that Ginny wasn't there yet. More people came in, and after about ten minutes the tables were almost at full capacity. There was still no sign of Ginny. The Great Hall was loud but when Dumbledore stood up the noise died instantly.

"Hello and welcome to this year's Halloween feast, I hope you all enjoy your meals, we have some special guests with us this evening and I know that you will make them feel very welcome!" He gestured over to group standing on a stage that hadn't been there before today. There were five people standing; two girls and three boys. They looked to be in their mid-twenties. They were not skeletons, so I wondered where Eleanor had got that idea from.

"I would like to introduce to you, The Singing Skeletons!" Dumbledore announced, and everyone applauded. So in a way, he had in fact booked a band of skeletons. The food appeared on the table, and the band got into playing positions. One of the girls, who had platinum blonde hair with pink and blue sections, played drums. The other girl, with bright orange hair had a guitar. She also stood in front of a microphone. Two of guys, both with dark hair, also held guitars in their hands. However one of the guitars had a longer neck and only had four strings. I think it's called bass. The fifth guy had electric blue hair, and also stood in front of a microphone. The whole band wore black outfits with a skeleton design on them. They played light rock music; because electricity didn't work with the magic in Hogwarts, the music was instead amplified with magic. I really enjoyed it.

I sat and listened to the band, the whole time taking note that Ginny hadn't shown up yet.

"Have you seen Ginny?" I asked Evelyn.

"Oh, she said she wasn't feeling well and decided to stay in the dorms." I nodded and continued listening. Towards the end I heard this other sound, I could make out what it was and I wasn't sure if it was a part of the song.

"Can you hear that?" I asked Evelyn.

"Hear what?"

"Don't worry; it's probably in the song or my imagination." I said, even though I felt funny, like something wasn't right. The song finished and I could still hear the noise, it was like faint whispering.

"That is our final song for the evening, ladies and gentleman; I hope you have enjoyed hearing us just as much as we have enjoyed playing for you." The guy with electric blue hair said as the band climbed off the stage. Dumbledore stood up again.

"I hope you have had a great Halloween Feast, everyone. Now it is time to goodnight and head back to your dormitories." The sound had stopped now, leaving me to wonder what it was. Everyone got up to leave, I was one of the first people out, with a few people ahead of me, and I noticed Draco in that group.

"Draco!" I called; we barely talked now and I was going to take this opportunity to speak to him. He turned around.

"Oh hey, Ari," I was about to say something else when suddenly, everybody stopped. Both Draco and I looked forward and he started to push himself forward through the people; I followed him. He made his way through everyone, and I decided to stay behind the first row. I was shocked by what I saw; written in the wall in what looked like blood was 'THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE'. Hanging down in front of it was Mrs. Norris, a cat owned by Filch, and standing in the middle of the corridor were three students from my house; Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley.

"Enemies of heir, beware! You'll be next mud bloods!" Draco exclaimed, a wild grin on his face. He made a point to look at Hermione, before moving his eyes. I followed his gaze and it led my eyes to Eleanor. I felt hot with anger, Eleanor was my friend.

"What's going on here? What's going on?" Filch must of heard Draco's shout, and called. Instantly, I felt bad, because once he saw Mrs. Norris, he was going to lose it.

"My cat, what's happened to Mrs. Norris? You killed her! You've murdered my cat." He cried at Harry.

"Argus!" Many of the staff had arrived by this point, and Dumbledore was the one to stop Filch in his rant. He went over to Mrs. Norris and picked her up.

"Come with me Argus. You too Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger," He said, and they left, with Professors Snape and McGonagall following. Professor Sprout stayed.

"All of you, off to your dormitories, there's nothing more to see here!" She instructed us, and we all walked off.

I made sure to be quiet when entering the dorm room, in case Ginny was asleep. I was right too, she was curled up on her bed, and for some reason Nyx had curled up with her. She woke up as soon as I came near though, and sat up, purring. I patted her and she jumped down while I shut the curtains around Ginny's bed. Soon all of the other girls had returned, some not so quiet. I put my finger to my lips and pointed to Ginny's bed with the other. They were quiet after that, and remained quiet while we all got ready for bed. I had trouble getting to sleep because all I could think about was the writing on the wall, and the strange noises I'd heard. It was bad enough that I was imaging hearing people talk when they weren't, let alone other strange voices I couldn't even place.

* * *

 **I've had an explosion of followers and favourites and some reviews and I thought I would celebrate by uploading yet another chapter! This one is a bit shorter then the others but I felt it too long with the other chapter and decided to split it.**

 **Pretty much I have all of Ari's version of Chamber of Secrets written, and am in the process of adapting Ari's version of Prisoner of Azkaban and making sure I tell her story in the process. I plan on combining CoS & PoA in one story to form Riddled with Black, and then the second story Shades of Grey will focus on GoF & OotP, and the final part of the trilogy Finding the Light will run alongside HBP & DH. Depending on popularity I may do some post book series stuff. If any one has any suggestions or things they would like to see I am happy to hear them and try to incorporate as much as I can! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this latest update. **


	10. The Chamber of Secrets

**Summary:** **Adhara Phoebe Black was raised to believe she was the daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, growing up alongside Draco as his sister. Expecting to begin her first year of Hogwarts as a Slytherin princess, things do not go according to plan and Ari begins to learn some things about herself and the people around her that start to make her question the life she lives.**

 **Copyright: I am not J.K. Rowling and therefore do not own anything recognised as belonging to the Harry Potter universe, I do however own Ari and anything else original in this story.**

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Riddled with Black  
Chapter Ten – The Chamber of Secrets

"You know… I thought from the start of term that Filch was a bit off, but I think this has made him absolutely mental." I looked at who the comment had come from; it was Isaac who had just come to sit beside me in Transfiguration. Two weeks had passed since Mrs. Norris was petrified, and it was still the most talked about topic amongst the students. There were so many questions that people were wondering; what was the Chamber of Secrets? Who was the heir, and what were they the heir of?

"What makes you think that?" I asked playfully, he was right though. Filch was rarely ever seen away from the spot that Mrs. Norris had been found, and would walk around sulking. Who could really blame him though; I know that if something were to happen to Nyx, I'd be a complete mess.

"Well, aside from the usual… he just gave Adam and Eric detention, for looking 'too happy'." He used quotation marks. I looked behind to where Adam and Eric sat; they shared matching scowls on their faces. I shrugged.

"It wouldn't be easy, that cat is everything to him." Was all I said, becoming quiet as Professor McGonagall started the lesson. I was pretty good at Transfiguration, as well as Charms, and alright at Defense. I was pretty hopeless at Herbology though, and average at Potions. I loved working with spells though, and Transfiguration was my favourite subject. We had it with the Ravenclaw students.

"Today we will be learning about the spell, Avifors, in which on accomplishment you will successfully be able to turn the bird figurines in front of you, into real birds." The Professor instructed, before showing us how to cast the spell. We all started attempting it and the room was loud with everyone saying the spell.

"Avifors," I said, with the correct wand swish. The figurine didn't fully transfigure, but the head came alive and moved for a few seconds before returning to its solid state. I tried the spell again, and it lasted a little bit longer. On the third attempt I had lovely vivid blue bird flying around. I noticed I was the first person to do so, but the girl I remembered being named Luna was not far behind me.

"Well done, five points to both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw" I grinned, and continued to practice the spell. Towards in the end of the lesson Professor McGonagall told us how to return the figurines back to their original forms, but did the spell herself, stating that she'd get us to do it next time. We were all sitting quietly when Luna put up her hand.

"Yes, Miss Lovegood?" I heard faint mutterings of 'what does Loony want now?' I rolled my eyes, Luna was known for asking the strangest questions. I had a feeling though that everybody wanted to know the answer to this question.

"Professor, I've been very curious about something for the past couple of weeks, I'm sure everybody has, and I'm wondering if you'd be able to answer it."

"What is it, Miss Lovegood?" Professor McGonagall tried to keep her face and tone light, but you could see it her eyes that she knew what Luna was about to ask.

"What is the Chamber of Secrets?" Luna asked bluntly. The Professor blinked, she hadn't expected it to come out like that.

"I don't think it is the place to talk about that." She responded, and Isaac put his hand up.

"Yes, Mr. Dalton."

"Excuse me Professor, but wouldn't it be better if you told us, rather than we find out some half-truth somewhere else?" He made a good point and McGonagall could see that. The whole class had perked up; everyone wanted to know. She sighed, relenting to our request.

"As all of you are aware, over a thousand years ago, Hogwarts was founded by four of the greatest witches and wizards to ever live: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. This was a time when muggles feared magic, and Slytherin believed that the school should be more select about who studied there. He thought that muggleborns should not be allowed into the school."

"The other three disagreed, and after an argument, Slytherin left. There is a rumour though, that before he left, he'd built a secret chamber, and left a monster that could only be controlled by Slytherin and his descendants." I wondered what it could possibly mean.

"So, that message saying enemies of heir, they're referring to the heir of Slytherin?" Isaac asked after putting his hand up.

"Well yes, Mr. Dalton, that is what the message suggests. However many Headmasters and Headmistresses have searched the castle all over, and there is no evidence of this secret chamber anywhere. Many now believe it to be a nonsense story to scare people."

"But what if it's true, Professor? Are muggleborns in danger?" I found myself asking.

"So far, only a cat has petrified, and it could just be a seriously dark prank. We are working to get to the bottom of it, and at the moment it is best if you try not to worry, but as a precaution: never travel alone. Class dismissed." We all packed up our things and left, our heads full of wonder.

"Do you think it's true?" Isaac asked.

"I don't know… it seems a bit crazy." I responded, but doubt had creeped into my mind.

"If so, who do you think is the heir?" I paused; good question. Who could possibly be the heir of Slytherin?

"I really don't know." The conversation was dropped after that, and students went off to lunch. However, I continued to think about it. I wanted to know who the Heir of Slytherin was, and why had they waited until this year to act.

One morning, later that week, I woke with the joyful realization that it was a Saturday, and not just any ordinary Saturday. It was the first Quidditch match of the season, and it was between Slytherin and Gryffindor. At around eleven o'clock we all headed toward the Quidditch pitch. I stayed fairly neutral in colours, even though my house was Gryffindor, Draco was playing his first game and I didn't want to offend him by supporting his opposing house. I sat with Isaac, Adam, Eric and Eleanor.

The game started out fairly ordinary, but not long into the game it became apparent that something was terribly wrong. One of the Bludger's appeared to have it in for Harry Potter, who was Gryffindor's Seeker. It seemed to be attacking him. Fred and George tried to protect him. The Gryffindor team took a time out to discuss something before jumping back on their brooms.

"Someone's tampered with the Bludger!" Adam exclaimed.

"How would they have managed to do that? Aren't they meant to be locked up in Madam Hooch's office before she takes them out for the game?" Eric asked.

"Who knows, but something is definitely happened because that," Adam pointed to the Bludger flying towards Harry, "is definitely not normal!" Just as Adam finished his sentence, the Bludger made impact with Harry's arm. I cringed in response.

"Oh no," I said. But Harry, who'd been distracted by Draco was determined still, even with what looked like a broken arm. He flew straight towards him.

"What?" It looked like he was attacking him, but when Harry reached his arm out I realized what really going on. The snitch was above Draco's head. Harry snatched it before tumbling and falling to the ground.

"Oh, that's gotta hurt." Eleanor commented. Staff rushed out onto the field and many students were on their feet trying to look over and see what was going on. I noticed Lockhart was the first to get to harry.

"Oh Merlin, not that fool!" I exclaimed, and received a glare from Eleanor; she like most girls at Hogwarts thought that Lockhart was best thing to exist since the creation of chocolate frogs. I glared back and she flinched; I guess the fear of me did come with its perks.

"What? You can't honestly think he's any good. All he is doing in our classes is showing us all the marvelous things he's apparently done, we're not learning anything. I can tell that this is going to end badly." And surely enough, things did end badly. Lockhart appeared to attempt to fix Harry's broken arm, but instead he made it look rubber. He'd removed all the bones; fabulous. Harry was escorted off to the Hospital wing, and everybody started to leave. I hung back; I wanted to talk to Draco because his pride was probably hurting. When it became apparent that he wasn't around, I went looking for him.

I found Draco looking sullen as he headed toward the Slytherin dungeons alone. I was surprised that the pug faced flower girl Pansy wasn't with him.

"Wait up, Draco!" I called. He stopped and looked back, waiting for me with an impatient look on his face.

"You okay?" I asked once I'd caught up to him.

"Oh, I'm perfectly fine. I just lost the first Quidditch match to damned Potter, who had a broken arm. Flint just made me feel like the biggest fool ever in front of the whole team, wait until father hears about this!" I sighed.

"Are you sure you want father to know that you lost to Harry Potter, even though he had a broken arm?" He stopped for a second, blinking fast.

"Merlin, you're right," He admitted.

"I'm always right." I joked, wanting him to smile. He smirked at my response.

"Sure you are Ari!" And like that he was less sullen. I looked up and noticed Pansy was heading towards us. Even though I'd spent some time with the girls, she still irritated me.

"Oh look, it's Violet!" I expressed as a joke because I knew she hated it. Draco looked up, at first confused, but then his face darkened.

"Pansy," He muttered darkly.

"What was that Draco?" I asked.

"Her name is Pansy." He said louder.

"Oh, I knew that," I said with an eye roll. He went to ask what I was talking about, but was interrupted by Pansy.

"Oh, Drakie, are you okay? It looked like Scar head was going to attack you!" Pansy said as she rushed towards him, ignoring me.

"That is my cue to leave," I said, grinning at Draco. He looked torn, like he couldn't decide if he liked the attention or if he'd just rather be alone. Accepting that he'd have no means of escape, he decided to lap up the attention she gave him.

When I got to the Gryffindor common room, a party of celebration had already started.

"Although it's a shame that Harry can't be here because he's growing his arm back, thanks to Lockhart the fool, I'd still like to make a toast to his achievement of catching the snitch!" Oliver Wood said, and everyone raised their pumpkin juices. The party went on for the rest of the afternoon; most of us had nothing better to do other than homework. At some point I noticed Ginny had disappeared; I assumed she'd just gone to study.

As the party began to die down I decided to go up to my dorm room and read. I sat with my legs under the blanket and read with Nyx asleep on my lap. After sometime I felt myself getting tired so I got changed and curled up under the blanket with Nyx, who did not respond to me moving her in anyway, other than to curl up on my chest.

I didn't know how long I'd been asleep for when the sound woke me up. I sat up in bed and looked around. It must have been late though because everyone else was also in bed. Listening more clearly, I heard the noise again. It sounded just like it had on Halloween and I had this fear that something bad was going to happen. The faint whispering sound was slightly clearer that what it had been that night. I swear it sounded like it was saying 'kill'. It sent shivers down my spine. It wasn't long after I woke up that the noise stopped. This frightened me even more; what if whatever had made that noise had successfully killed someone? I stood up and went to the bathroom, washing my face with cold water. I went back to bed, attempting to get some sleep even though the adrenaline had kicked in. Eventually I got there.

It was at dinner the next day that Dumbledore told is that Colin Creevey had been petrified. It was now official, this Chamber of Secrets, wherever it was, had been official opened, and I wondered; who is the heir of Slytherin?

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 **Wishing everyone a safe and wonderful holiday period. :)**


	11. The Duelling Club

**Summary:** **Adhara Phoebe Black was raised to believe she was the daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, growing up alongside Draco as his sister. Expecting to begin her first year of Hogwarts as a Slytherin princess, things do not go according to plan and Ari begins to learn some things about herself and the people around her that start to make her question the life she lives.**

 **Copyright: I am not J.K. Rowling and therefore do not own anything recognised as belonging to the Harry Potter universe, I do however own Ari and anything else original in this story.**

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Riddled with Black  
Chapter Eleven - The Duelling Club

The days were getting shorter and colder as we got deeper into winter. Soon it was the Christmas Break, and news started to circle around the student body. Hogwarts was starting a Duelling Club, with tonight its first meeting. Not many of the first years were interested, but I certainly was. I went with Isaac and Eric, Adam had an assignment he'd left till last minute. I noticed Eleanor had decided to come to, and she stood in same area I did, although not to close.

The Duelling Club was being taught by Lockhart, with Snape as his assistant. Really, after Lockhart failed at fixing Harry's arm, Dumbledore trusted this guy to teach out defensive spells? Lockhart and Snape demonstrated a duel, with Snape disarming Lockhart within seconds. This supports my point.

"I'm going to put you all in pairs now," Lockhart said, and went around with the help Snape. I noticed that Snape decided to pair Harry with Draco and instantly I knew; this wasn't going to end well.

"Now, let me see… Mr. Dalton you can go with Mr. Gilbert" Came the voice of Lockhart.

"Miss Black, how about you work with Miss Goodwin?" Eleanor and I looked at each other and nodded. After everyone had a partner, we were told to face each other and bow before getting your wands are ready.

"Don't go easy on me, Black." Eleanor said with a determined look on her face.

"What do you mean?"

"Go all out; I need to learn how to defend myself." I nodded.

"One, two," I don't know how I knew, but Eleanor planned firstly to cast the disarming spell on me. I was going to get there first.

"As you wish, Goodwin,"

"Three!"

"Expelliarmus!" I shouted and sent Eleanor back a few meters. She grinned at me, stood up and returned the favour. Before I could cast a spell, however, my attention went elsewhere.

Draco and Harry were going a little further than disarming. Snape had to remove a spell that Draco had cast on Harry that made his legs dance. I also noticed that a Slytherin girl had Hermione in a headlock. So much for using our wands, it seems.

Lockhart decided to demonstrate how to block spells, and was initially going to use Neville Longbottom and Justin Flinch-Fletchley. Snape suggested Harry and Draco. Okay, maybe it's a good thing he's not teaching it, he's clearly asking for an explosive battle.

"Excellent idea!" No, stupid idea, you stupid, stupid man! Harry and Draco looked pleased to have to battle each other, and moved to the centre of the hall. I moved closer to see, with Eleanor, Isaac and Eric following.

"This isn't going to end well." I said to them, and they all nodded in agreement.

After some instructions, the boys got into position, and Lockhart counted them in.

"Serpensortia!" Exclaimed Draco; oh no, not that spell. A long, black snake exploded out of his wand, causing many, including Eleanor, to scream. I would have giggled at the irony that a Slytherin was afraid of snakes, but there was something captivating about the snake. She was annoyed, she didn't want to be here, and she was more afraid of us students than what were of her.

Lockhart attempted to get rid of snake, instead he angered her more, and the snake angrily headed towards the student at the front of the group.

"Leave him!" Shouted Harry, and at that point in time it made perfect sense to me. Everyone else seemed shocked though, like he'd spoken a different language. The boy seemed very afraid. Harry continued to talk to the snake, trying to calm it down.

"What do you think you're playing at?" The boy snapped, before leaving the Hall. Everyone was muttering. Snape used a spell to destroy the snake and Ron dragged Harry out, with Hermione trailing behind.

"Potter's a Parselmouth, who would have thought." Isaac said.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"You know, Parseltongue, the language of snakes…"

"I know what a Parselmouth is; I just didn't notice it with Harry,"

"You mean you didn't notice that Harry spoke in a language that wasn't English and the snake listened to him?" Isaac asked, raising his eyebrow. I blinked. Somewhere I heard someone mutter 'Potter must be the Heir of Slytherin'. I resisted the urge to snort, he couldn't be.

"Oh… I noticed that part, I guess I just wasn't thinking." I lied quickly to cover myself, I didn't want to imply that I understood Harry; for fear that people would begin to accuse me of being the heir of Slytherin. Parseltongue was the language of snakes, a language that some wizards were able to speak. Salazar Slytherin was one of the most notable, and it is why the Slytherin was depicted as a snake. Parseltongue could only be inherited, and thus the heir that is supposedly able to open the Chamber, might be able to speak it. Why had I been able to understand? I tried not to think about it, and to distract myself I glanced at Eleanor, she seemed to be thinking. What if I hadn't fooled her?

"I don't think Harry's the heir. I think there is some other explanation." I said, as we cleared the Hall. Eleanor trailed behind us. I smiled at her, before leaving. I was conflicted. Could it be Draco? We are siblings, so surely if I could understood, so could he? I shook my head at that thought, I doubt someone as young as twelve would really be attempting to kill students. It had to be someone older. My head was full of so many questions as I walked back to the common room. The feeling that something was terribly wrong only increased. Suddenly a question overcame all of them; who was the heir going to attack next?

When I arrived at the Gryffindor Common Room, I decided to go straight up to my dorm room. I wanted to be alone as possible to think. Fortunately, no one else was in the dorm, so I was able to sit quietly. Glancing at Ginny's bedside table I noticed a diary. It was the same diary I'd seen her carry around, the one that gave me a strange vibe. It was odd that she left it sitting there; she normally guarded it with her life. The urge to grab the diary, and establish why it made me so uncomfortable increased. I looked at the door, before deciding to place a magical lock on it to avoid anyone catching me. I walked over and picked up the diary. Did I really want to pry into Ginny's personal life like this? Curiosity overcame me, and I opened the diary up.

There was no writing, frowning I began to flick through the pages, and still there was no writing. This was definitely the same diary she carried around, and I wasn't just imagining the strange feeling it gave; the feeling was stronger now that I held it in my hands. I'd seen her write in it, where had the writing gone? I decided to experiment, so I grabbed a quill and some ink.

Sitting down on my bed, I opened the diary up again. I went straight to the middle, in case what I was expecting to happen was wrong and I'd be forced to rip the pages out in hope that Ginny wouldn't notice.

 _Dear Diary,_ I begun. At first nothing happened, and then suddenly the words vanished. It could be easily explained, perhaps it was enchanted so that Ginny would be able to write all the things that bothered how down, and then they would disappear so that no one else could read them. It a great idea and it also saved you from buying heaps of journals. That didn't explain the uncomfortable vibe it gave, but I was prepared to close, when suddenly words appeared on the page.

 _Ginny?_ The diary questioned and my eyes widened. I wasn't expecting it to do that. What did it mean? I would have written more, but I was suddenly interrupted by someone attempting to open the door. I quickly, but quietly got up and placed the diary exactly where I found it, before tip toeing back to my bed.

"Is anyone in there?" Ginny's voice called, and she started to shake the door a little in attempt to open it. I quickly got under the covers of my bed, and after a quick wave of my wand in the direction of the door, I pretended to be asleep.

Suddenly the door opened for Ginny, and she stumbled to gain her balance. She didn't say anything as she walked to her bed, grabbed something, and left. I sighed in relief.

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 **Would love to hear your thoughts. :)**


	12. The Diary

**Summary:** **Adhara Phoebe Black was raised to believe she was the daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, growing up alongside Draco as his sister. Expecting to begin her first year of Hogwarts as a Slytherin princess, things do not go according to plan and Ari begins to learn some things about herself and the people around her that start to make her question the life she lives.**

 **Copyright: I am not J.K. Rowling and therefore do not own anything recognised as belonging to the Harry Potter universe, I do however own Ari and anything else original in this story.**

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Riddled with Black  
Chapter Twelve – The Diary

By the end of the following day, everyone knew about what had happened between Harry, the snake and Justin Finch-Fletchley. As all the students sat for dinner in the Great Hall, there were whispers. Everyone avoided Harry in person, but pointed and whispered about him, behind his back. They were afraid of him. It seemed like something else had happened.

"Can I have your attention please," Dumbledore stood up, and everyone became quiet instantly.

"As many of you probably already know, there was another attack last night, a double attack. Hufflepuff student, Justin Finch-Fletchley, as well Sir Nicholas, the Gryffindor ghost, have been found petrified." The whispers started up again just as suddenly as they'd stopped. I looked at Harry, but he didn't notice me looking, as he was quite a bit down the table. Everyone would think it was he who had done it, after what had happened at the dueling club. But it can't be him, why would he have tried to save Justin from the snake, if he was only going to petrify him later? And why would he attack the ghost of his own house?

"Do you know who did it?" A student called.

"At this point, there are still no indications as to who is doing this." Dumbledore started.

"It's obviously Potter!" A Hufflepuff, who I didn't know that name of stood up and shouted, interrupting Dumbledore. This caused uproar in the Gryffindor table. It wasn't as strong as it had been at previous times, like the house was losing faith in Harry after it came out that he was a Parselmouth. I glared at the Hufflepuff table. In doing so, however, I noticed I'd caught Draco's attention, the Slytherin table being just behind the Hufflepuff table. His eyes flashed, and mine hardened even more. I was beginning to really get sick of this narrow minded attitude shared by the Malfoy family, as well as many other pure-bloods I felt guilty instantly after thinking that about my family, and turned around and looked back down at my food. It's not my problem; it's none of my business.

"Calm down students, there is no solid evidence to suggest that Mr. Potter is behind the attacks, and unless there eyewitnesses to state that they saw Mr. Potter attacking a student, comments will not be taken into consideration." Everyone calmed down and continued with the feast. I finished my dinner quickly, and noticed that Ginny wasn't eating. She'd been doing it a bit, looking like she felt sick. She always carried around that diary to and it kind of worried me. I don't mean to say I was worried about a Weasley, but I mean there's something dark about that diary, yet oddly familiar. I needed to get to the bottom of it. As the whispers got louder and turned into talking, Ginny got paler, her brothers were making jokes to try and cheer her up. It didn't seem to be working. She stood up, and quietly told them she was going to bed and wanted to be alone.

"Hey Ginny," I found myself calling, she turned around, surprised. I quick glance at the Slytherin table told me that Draco was watching. I felt a sudden spark in me; damn him.

"What?" She asked with a startled look on her face.

"Mind if I walk with you to the common room, it's not good to walk alone anymore," She shrugged, and I got up quickly, taking one final glance at the Slytherin table, and found my dark eyes meeting Draco's cold, steely grey ones. His face had hardened; he looked furious. Pansy and Blaise then looked in the same direction, obviously catching onto Draco's sudden mood change. I smirked, shaking my head as I turned to follow Ginny.

"This stuff is really affecting you, isn't it?" I asked after we left the Great Hall, perhaps too bluntly.

"Yeah… I don't really like to talk about it though," She seemed very awkward.

"That's okay, I just notice that you don't look well, it's understandable though. It's scary knowing anyone could be attacked, at any moment." She looked at me, and I noticed a spark in her eye.

"Well, you haven't really got anything to worry about…" She'd started off snarky, but trailed off at the end.

"I guess you're right, but you're also pure blooded." I shrugged.

"Oh, but I'm a 'blood traitor'." Ginny threw back. I didn't really know how to respond to that.

"I think words like that are stupid," I said after a long time, looking down at my feet, we were almost at the common room now. Ginny stopped and turned to me, waiting to say the password. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the truth either.

"What did you just say…?" She looked confused or surprised.

"I said words like that are stupid… you know, 'pure blood', 'blood traitor… 'Mud-"

"Okay, I get it, I'm just surprised."

"Why? Is it because my whole family is full of pure-blood supremacists?" I said somewhat bitterly, but winked to show I wasn't taking it personally. She smiled slightly.

"Well… yeah… no offence,"

"None taken," I said, holding my hands up. I wasn't offended, because essentially it was the truth, even if it was the only thing I knew. Ginny said the password and the portrait swung open. It was quiet in the common room, because pretty much everyone was still in the Great Hall. Ginny sat by a table that was close to the fireplace, and pulled out her diary. I remembered last night, holding the diary, writing in the diary. I remembered the diary writing back to me. I wonder if I can do something about it, without letting her know that I'd touched it.

"Do you mind if I ask you something?" She looked up.

"Okay…" She said cautiously.

"So, whenever you have that diary, I get this strange feeling from it. Like, it's a person, almost. It feels like… not a very good person."

"One, that's more of a statement, rather than a question, two, you're absolutely bonkers." Ginny has a slight hysterical note to her voice. Like I'd hit a nerve.

"Well I was going to ask, where did you get it from?" She looked taken aback, like she didn't expect that question.

"Uh… it was my cauldron after we left the bookshop, after Mr. Malfoy and my dad had that fight… I assumed it was a present as my birthday had been only a few days earlier." As she said that, I remembered my father placing Ginny's books in the cauldron, and instantly my suspicions about the diary heightened. Who knew what was in that diary.

"Ginny, you need to get rid of that diary."

"Why?" She snapped.

"Ginny, you can't tell me that there isn't something dark in that diary," She backed down.

"Just leave me alone," She then got up with the diary and ran out of the common room. I sat by the fire for a while, thinking. I decided I needed to get my hands on that diary.

I never got to see the diary again, Ginny had come back later that night without it, and slowly she began to return to normal. She smiled more and she was less shy. She brushed past me a few days later and whispered 'thank you'. She didn't have to elaborate on what she was thanking me for. We didn't really talk after that though, which I was perfectly happy with.

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 **Hey guys, so most of these chapters were written a while a go under the pretense of Ari knowing that Lucius and Narcissa were her aunt and uncle, so while I think I've got most of editing to where she thinks they are her mum and dad, I've missed a few here and there. If you notice it just let me know and I'll fix it while continuing to comb through myself.**


	13. Another Attack

**Summary:** **Adhara Phoebe Black was raised to believe she was the daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, growing up alongside Draco as his sister. Expecting to begin her first year of Hogwarts as a Slytherin princess, things do not go according to plan and Ari begins to learn some things about herself and the people around her that start to make her question the life she lives.**

 **Copyright: I am not J.K. Rowling and therefore do not own anything recognised as belonging to the Harry Potter universe, I do however own Ari and anything else original in this story.**

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Riddled with Black  
Chapter Thirteen – Another Attack

Unfortunately, my actions at dinner had gotten me in the Malfoy bad books. Draco had been giving me dirty looks, and snarled that 'father would hear about this'. I was expecting a howler, but all I got was a letter telling me to be careful about the choices I make, and that next time I did something that could reflect negatively on the family, I wouldn't get off so lightly. So, I'd been avoiding Draco who seemed just as willing to avoid me, which hurt a lot. We used to be so close when we were children. Did he consider me a traitor for one small conversation, or worse had be noticed how much time I'd been spending with Eleanor? I was starting to feel anxious, and had begun avoiding Eleanor, who seemed hurt by my actions

A few weeks had passed since the double-attack, and no other attacks had happened yet. We felt like sitting ducks, knowing that there was something in the castle aiming to kill students. I didn't have to worry, but it was still nerve wracking. I'd felt bad about my attitude towards Eleanor, so when I saw her in the library I decided to take the opportunity to fix things. The library was abnormally quiet, with barely anyone in as most were using the Saturday to build Snowmen in the grounds. I noticed Eleanor sitting at a table, ready a potions book. I walked over to her.

"Uh, hello," I forced out. She looked up.

"Hi,"

"How are you?"

"I'm alright, you?"

"I'm okay," The conversation seemed awkward, but not forced.

"May I sit?" I asked.

"If you want," Eleanor shrugged. I sat down beside.

"I just want to say, I'm sorry for avoiding you, Draco wrote about me to our parents and I got scared."

"It's okay, I understand. You have a pureblood reputation to uphold. I'm wondering why you are here now?"

"I don't know. I guess I'm starting to realise I don't want to be like them."

"Oh." I decided to change topics.

"How did you parents react to you being a witch?" She looked surprised at my question.

"They don't like me using magic, it took a lot of convincing for me to be allowed to go to Hogwarts," I always thought about how the Wizarding community responded to muggleborns, but it never occurred to me how a muggle family might react to their magical child.

"How did you find out?" I asked. I'd always wondered what had happened when muggle born students got their letters.

"Well I always knew I was different, strange things sometimes happened. It was mid-July last year, and it had started out like any other ordinary day but just after lunch, the doorbell rang. My mother opened the door and in came Professor McGonagall." I nodded to show I was listening.

"She introduced herself, and gave me my letter, after I read it my parents didn't believe it and told her to get out, so she showed them some magic, and asked me I'd ever experienced anything out of the ordinary. I nodded, and ever since then things have just been really awkward with my parents. My little brother loves the idea, he hopes he's a wizard, and so do I. Then mum and dad would have no choice but to love me, how would they be able to hate us both?" It seemed really unfair to me to her parents had started to treat her differently because she was magical. But then I realised that, when a pureblood family has a 'Squib' or non-magical child, they often treated that child different. Some, like my family, went to the extreme of disowning them. I almost laughed at the irony that purebloods really weren't that different from the muggles they detested.

"I better start on my potions homework," I muttered.

"I can help if you want," Eleanor offered, as she was very good at it. She helped me finish it off before leaving by herself to get some dinner. It wasn't long after Eleanor left that I started to feel hungry myself. Packing up my things I went to rush of the library, before heading in the direction of Gryffindor Tower.

"Oof," I'd been walking along, looking down and not really watching where I was going, when suddenly I found myself on the ground with my stuff around me.

"Watch it you… oh; it's you down there, Ari." The person I had bumped into was none other than Blaise Zabini. He smirking as he looked down at me, the arrogant Slytherin had been able to keep his balance.

"Hi," I said sharply as I collected my things. Blaise just stood there with his arms crossed.

"What are you doing in such a rush? Are you afraid of the Slytherin beast?" His smirk was wider after I'd reminded him of my name.

"I'm a Black, and a Gryffindor. I'm not afraid of anything." I responded as I stood up. He smirked.

"Sure you aren't... what is it like being a lion?" He questioned.

"It's fine; a lot warmer that what I imagine living underground like a snake would be." I meant it as a joke, and he must have found it funny because his smirk widened. Not a smile, a smirk.

"Fair point, but really it's not that bad. You know, it really annoyed Malfoy when you were sorted into Gryffindor, he wouldn't shut up about it for weeks." I rolled my eyes; that was Draco for you. I went to respond but stopped myself when I heard a whispering noise. My head snapped towards the noise.

"Do you hear that?" I asked Blaise, turning my head back to face him.

"No, why?"

"Never mind," I said as I turned to follow the noise, and Blaise decided to follow me.

"Where are you off to?" He asked.

"To drop my books off before dinner!" I snapped at him, wanting him not to follow me.

"Considering it's the other way to get to the Gryffindor common room and the Great Hall,"

"Oh… there's more than one way," I tried to explain, but I don't think he believed me.

"Seriously, where are you going Ari, are you following some kind of voice no one else can hear?" Yes, Blaise that is exactly what I'm doing, but I'm not going to tell you that.

"The question is why are you following me, Zabini, if you're so worried about where I'm going?"

"I can't let you go alone, what if you get yourself killed, and Malfoy would kill me if he found I left his baby sister to on her own, to fend for herself." I turned around.

"Like Draco cares, and like you care what Draco thinks and does. Now if you're going to follow me, shut up! If you can't be quiet, go away. Oh, and I'm not a 'baby'." Blaise snorted but nodded at my request. All the while, whispering got louder. The words 'blood' and 'kill' stood out.

"We're heading towards Moaning Myrtle's bathroom." Blaise established. He was right, I acknowledged. This can't be good; this was where Mrs. Norris had been found, and the other victims hadn't been fair away either. Suddenly, the whispering stopped. I stopped to, and tried to listen for more. It didn't come.

"Ari…?" If it had been any other time, I'd of been surprised at his use of my first name.

"It's gone," I mumbled.

"What?" He frowned.

"The voice, it's gone." I looked in the direction that would lead me to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

"Oh good, we can go eat now… hey where are you going?" I'd started moving again, heading towards of the bathroom. The voice may have stopped, but that doesn't mean that everything's over. Well, that actually depends on how you look at it. Blaise was quickly behind me. I turned the corner. Lying on the floor, not far from the bathroom entrance was a girl.

"No," I whispered. It was a girl with sandy blonde hair. I stepped forward, walking slowly towards the girl before kneeled down in front of the body. I looked back at Blaise, who was staring at the girl, mouth slightly open.

"Don't just stand there, please go and get help!" I snapped, which brought Blaise back to attention. He looked at me before running off in the direction of the library. I looked back at girl on the floor.

The girl on the floor was Eleanor. I walked over to her body, kneeling beside her.

"Oh please still be alive," I whispered, pointlessly. Eleanor's eyes were wide open, and I felt her arms. They were stiffened, and as far as I could tell that meant she was only petrified; not dead. I sighed in relief. I sat down more comfortably, holding Eleanor's cold, stiff, hand and waited for Blaise to return with someone. It felt like a long time, even though it was probably only about ten minutes before Blaise had returned with Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape.

"Is this how you found her, Mr. Zabini?" Snape prompted Blaise, who nodded in response. Meanwhile, Professor Dumbledore approached as, and analyzed Eleanor's still form for himself. I stood up to be out of the way.

"She is only petrified," He said simply.

"Oh thank Merlin," McGonagall also sighed in relief.

"I'm curious as to how Mr. Zabini and Miss Black were travelling in this direction and just happened to come across Miss Goodwin? The Gryffindor common room is on the other side of the school." Snape asked with a suspicious tone. I frowned.

"Are you insinuating something, professor?" I asked; my irritation showing through.

"No, Miss Black, I was just simply stating my curiosity,"

"Well, it is just outside the girl's laboratory, I needed to go to the bathroom." I lied; I knew how bad it would seem if I told them of the voices I heard. I looked at Blaise, hoping he wouldn't blow my cover. He looked at the floor and stayed silent. Snape raised his eyebrow; it was Moaning Myrtle's bathroom after all, no body went there to go to the toilet. I felt this strange sensation, almost like a tingle, in my brain. I frowned and tried to push it away, and I noticed Snape's eyes flash with surprise. Before I could say anything Snape turned to face Blaise.

"Is that true?" Blaise looked up at me, our eyes met and he started to nod before looking at Snape.

"Yes, it's true. We saw each other when we Ari left the library, and I decided to walk her to the bathroom as it was on the way to the Slytherin common room." Snape looked doubtful and appeared to want to say anything but decided against it. I wondered if he had tried to probe Blaise the way he had tried to probe me?

"Surely we don't need to be questioning the students when they haven't had their dinner," McGonagall said in our defense.

"Yes, I think you need to go get something to eat, or go back to your common rooms." Professor Dumbledore insisted.

"What's going to happen to Eleanor?" I asked. Dumbledore gave me a weak smile.

"Miss Goodwin will be taken to the hospital wing, and when the mandrake solution has been completed, she will be revived with the rest of the students." I nodded; turning away to go back to the common room, becoming more concerned as the amount of people attacked grew larger. I was also really worried about what was going on with me. First I started hearing voices and now I can feel when someone tries to read my mind? Why were these abilities only just appearing now?

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 **I would love to hear what you think. :)**


	14. The Cancelled Quidditch Match

**Summary:** **Adhara Phoebe Black was raised to believe she was the daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, growing up alongside Draco as his sister. Expecting to begin her first year of Hogwarts as a Slytherin princess, things do not go according to plan and Ari begins to learn some things about herself and the people around her that start to make her question the life she lives.**

 **Copyright: I am not J.K. Rowling and therefore do not own anything recognised as belonging to the Harry Potter universe, I do however own Ari and anything else original in this story.**

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Riddled with Black  
Chapter Fourteen – The Cancelled Quidditch Match

In the days following Eleanor's attack I tried to pretend that everything was normal, that everything was alright. The truth was, I felt responsible, even though I knew I wasn't. I studied at the library alone. I couldn't work out what was happening to me. Being around my classmates was giving me headaches because I started to find myself more and more aware of what many of them were thinking.

It was probably about a week after Eleanor's attack when Draco approached for the first time since he'd told me he was going to tell uncle Lucius about my conversation with Ginny Weasley. I became tense the moment I saw him, expecting that Blaise had informed him of my connection to the muggle born Slytherin. I was surprised that he'd come alone, as he was normally with Crabbe and Goyle or Pansy.

"May I sit here?" He asked once he had arrived at the table I was sitting at in the open study area of the library.

"Sure," I muttered coolly, keeping my eyes on the paper I was writing for Transfiguration; my best subject. He sat down, and waited a few moments before speaking.

"So, Ari, about the other week," He started, I put my quill down and turned to look at him, my eyebrows raised. I could sense that he wasn't here to be friendly.

"What about last week?" I snapped.

"What were you doing with Weaselette?" He snapped back.

"Oh, so now you ask? You didn't think to maybe talk to me before you went and sent a letter to our parents?" I demanded, whilst trying to keep my voice so that the librarian didn't hear us.

"You were seen socializing with a blood traitor by the entire school, and everyone in Slytherin was laughing at me about it. You have no idea what your actions could potentially do to our reputation!"

"Oh, so it's okay for all these bad things to happen, so long as your reputation is still intact? Merlin, Draco, this is school, we shouldn't have to act like adults and make proper decisions."

"You still haven't answered my question."

"I walked with her to the common room; we are in the same house you know! With that beast on the loose we established it's a lot safer to walk in groups!"

"You're a pure blood Ari, and despite being a blood traitor, so is that Weasley girl. The beast is clearly after mudbloods." I didn't respond. "And that doesn't explain why you smiled about it." I sighed.

"I don't know what you want me to say Draco. That I'm sorry? Promise you that I won't talk to her again?"

"I guess, I don't know, all I know is that they're disgusting, and I don't understand how you could want to talk to them."

"I don't want to talk to them, and for the most part I usually don't,"

"You're changing,"

"No I'm not."

"You are, it's been nearly eight months in Gryffindor and they're starting to rub off on you." I frowned; he was just trying to cause a fight.

"I won't talk to her again; can we please just leave it? I don't want to fight, I'm still the same." Draco sighed. I could feel his resolve lifting.

"Sure, why not, now why in Merlin's robe are you alone in the library for?"

"To study,"

"Are you always alone in the library?"

"Yes, always, I've got no friends. It's not easy being in Gryffindor,"

"You can always hang out with me," I smiled; I really missed having friendly conversations with Draco.

"I would really like that," I remarked. Draco then pulled out some of his own homework and we studied together.

After our conversation in the library, I started to spend more time with Draco. Unfortunately it meant that I also spent more time with his Slytherin cronies. I stood with them quietly, carefully resisting the urge to offer my opinion in their conversations. Spring was well under way with the weather warming up slightly, and flowers coming out. The popular Slytherin group took advantage of today's sunny day, and sat out in the courtyard, I decided to join them. I sat on the outskirts with Blaise nearby; neither of us contributed to the conversations much. Crabbe and Goyle stood towards the back of the group and were equally as silent, reminding me of body guards rather than simple second year students. Draco sat beside Blaise, with Pansy on his other side. Daphne Greengrass sat across from Pansy, and the two were discussing hair and make-up; something that I hadn't yet come to understand. Theodore Nott sat beside Daphne with a bored expression.

"Let's talk about something a little more interesting, like the Slytherin monster," Theodore exclaimed; quite suddenly. I frowned, this was not something I wanted to hear or talk about any longer. A shuddered as the memory of the whisper came into mind; deep down I knew they had to be connected.

"The filthy mudblood was petrified just the other week, that Elena or something. Our house, unfortunately," Daphne responded.

"Eleanor," I said simply. Everyone aside from Blaise looked at me; facial expressions ranged from surprise to suspicion. Draco's faced flashed with the strongest suspicion, but that was covered with his mask in just moments.

"It's nice to know that you speak, but how did you know that," Pansy said. The question was kind of odd; I mean she was in the same year level as me, why wouldn't I know her name?

"Just from around, she is the same year level, and Gryffindor has potions and Quidditch with Slytherin." I risked a look at Blaise, who looked up from the ground

"Damn mudblood shouldn't have been a Slytherin, tainting our students." Daphne exclaimed. I scowled.

"My question is, why just petrify them, why not kill them?" Nott asked.

"Yes, you'd think that the monster would be designed to kill mudbloods." Daphne expressed absent-mindedly. I'd had enough; I wasn't comfortable here, I never was. As cliché as it seemed, I honestly felt like a single, cowardly lion that had fallen and was trapped in a pit of venomous snakes. Draco was right, I had changed.

"Who do you think the next victim will be?" Theodore questioned the group.

"I don't know, but I sure hope it's that Granger serves the trio right." Draco snarled, and I frowned in surprise. Did he not realise what he was saying? I needed to get out of there.

"I have to go, I just remembered I had a paper to finish for Snape," I said quickly before jumping and leaving before any of them could respond. I really didn't have one to finish, but no one would know that. Once out of their line of sight I headed towards the lake, a quiet place to think. I'd probably been sitting there for about ten minutes when I heard footsteps.

"That is a very strange paper, Little Black, is it covered with some kind of invisible potion?" I didn't have to turn around to see who it was.

"What do you want Zabini?" I sighed as he sat down beside me.

"Nothing, just thought I'd keep you company." I raised my eyebrow; now that is believable.

"What do you want to know?" He raised his eyebrow to match, before smirking slightly.

"Am I that transparent?"

"No, you're just a Slytherin…" He snorted.

"This… girl… Eleanor? She's your friend, isn't she?"

"Yes, she was nice to me and I appreciated that. Am I transparent?" I admitted.

"No, just a Gryffindor," Blaise retorted.

"I just, I don't really have any friends, and she doesn't have any friends, and she's good at potions and Herbology, but sucks as spell work. I'm good at spells but suck at those two."

"You thought that maybe you could be friends?" Blaise prompted.

"Why did you cover for me?" I asked, changing the subject.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean the other night, when we found Eleanor, and the staff asked what happened, you covered up the fact that I was hearing voices. And again today, you already had your suspicions about me, and you could have told Draco, but you didn't. In fact you could have told him about it ages ago."

"It's not my place to go telling people your problems and the things in your personal life. You hear voices, that's your problem… you want to be friends with a mud-muggleborn, that's your prerogative." He covered his slip up well, and I smiled a little bit. "Don't get me wrong, I'm pure blooded, I love the fact that I'm pure blooded, and yes I do think I'm better than those… people." He paused, "However, it isn't my place to go telling your family who you're with and what you're doing. I know what your family is like, and I would gain nothing from putting you through that."

"Wow, I think that's the most you've said to me all year,"

"Try the most I've said to anyone my whole life," There was something serious in his tone. I wasn't used to it.

"Thanks," I said, although it seemed redundant. "I don't disagree with the pure blood values… I just, didn't think,"

"The rules are how they are; we can't do anything about them. Now, try not to be so gloomy, you're eleven, worry about changing the world when you're older."

"And what are you, twelve? You kind of sound like a wise old man…" I joked at him. He laughed a little.

"Thirteen," I looked at him blankly. "I'm thirteen, my birthday is in November, the twenty ninth."

"Oh, nice to know… I was supposed to be born in September, came a little early though in August; the nineteenth." It was a strange topic change, but it was nice to think about something other than Eleanor, the other petrifactions and the Slytherin monster.

"I'll have to keep that in mind, I'm going to go now." I nodded, and he stood up and left me alone to my thoughts.

The week passed by quickly, with no one being attacked. Everyone was still an edge and stayed in large groups in hope to avoid being attacked. I'd stopped hanging out with the Slytherins again, instead choosing to spend time with Evelyn and Loretta, or Isaac, Eric and Adam. Sometime the whole group of us studied together at library. It wasn't long before it was time for the Hufflepuff versus Gryffindor Quidditch Match, and all of us sat in the stands waiting for the game to begin.

"Who do you think will win?" Isaac started a conversation from beside me. I was about to respond, before I heard a faint noise. I looked around and saw nothing. Isaac frowned, "Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" I responded, shaking my head, "And I think Gryffindor will win, of course!" I heard the noise again, in my head, and I started to have this dreadful feeling; there was going to be another attack, I could hear the monster, albeit only faintly." I sat quietly and waited for it to pass. What could I do? Tell a Professor that I heard strange voices and that somebody was going to get hurt? No one would believe me, and if they did, they'd think I was involved. I tried to think about the match. We'd gotten here early so we could get good seats, and the stands were only just starting to fill. I spotted Draco over the other side wearing something from Hufflepuff, he appeared to scowl though and I got the feeling he was only wearing it to be anti-Gryffindor. Soon the stands were full, the game should begin soon. Time started to pass and I knew something wasn't right.

"Shouldn't it be starting by now?" Adam observed.

"I think someone else has been attacked," I said quietly before stopping myself, Isaac must have heard because he looked at me strangely.

"How would you know that?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Just a feeling," I tried to cover.

"Oh, it's Dumbledore!" Evelyn pointed out on to the center of the pitch where Dumbledore stood. He held his wand to his throat, and suddenly his booming voice spoke.

"I regret to inform you that the Hufflepuff versus Gryffindor Quidditch Match has been cancelled," That received loud groans from the audience. I closed my eyes. "Two more students have been attacked not too long ago, it has proven to be far too dangerous and the Quidditch season has been cancelled. It is expected that you will all return to your common rooms to hear more information from the Heads of each House. Thank you." Suddenly everyone stood up, fear evident in the atmosphere. The group of us stayed close together and made it the Gryffindor common room safely. McGonagall was waiting there for us. I noticed that Harry, Ron or Ginny were not in the common room. When most of the Gryffindor students had arrived, McGonagall decided to speak.

"Sadly, two more students have been attacked; fortunately they have only been petrified and not killed." She paused, as if thinking about how strange it was for petrifaction to be considered a positive in comparison to the alternative. "The students are second year Gryffindor Hermione Granger and sixth year Ravenclaw, Penelope Clearwater." People started to mutter amongst themselves.

"Well I guess it wasn't Potter after all," Adam said bluntly. It was a shame it took the attack on Hermione before the opinion changed. McGonagall explained that we would have to travel in large groups and be in the common room before eight, and to report anything strange that we heard before leaving us all to talk. I sat quietly in the corner and thought to myself. Suddenly Nyx appeared and jumped on my lap, attempting to comfort me. I needed to know what was happening; I needed to know what that voice was. It occurred to me that the only person who could truly help me was Dumbledore, and I made the decision that it would be top priority to speak to him tomorrow morning. For now, I was going to put the event outside of my mind.


	15. The Final Victim

**Summary:** **Adhara Phoebe Black was raised to believe she was the daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, growing up alongside Draco as his sister. Expecting to begin her first year of Hogwarts as a Slytherin princess, things do not go according to plan and Ari begins to learn some things about herself and the people around her that start to make her question the life she lives.**

 **Copyright: I am not J.K. Rowling and therefore do not own anything recognised as belonging to the Harry Potter universe, I do however own Ari and anything else original in this story.**

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Riddled with Black  
Chapter Fifteen – The Final Victim

The following morning I woke up earlier than usual as I wanted to have breakfast early in order to talk to Dumbledore as soon as possible. When I arrived at the Great Hall I noticed that Dumbledore was not in his usual seat in the center of the teachers table. Instead, McGonagall sat in his place, looking anxious. I frowned, where was Dumbledore? Sitting down, I began to grab some toast. Slowly more students started to file into the Great Hall for breakfast. When a large number of the students had filled the hall, McGonagall stood up and called for the students to pay attention. We all stopped talking and focused on what she had to say.

"It is with great difficulty that I announce to you that Professor Dumbledore has been suspended from his role as Headmaster until further notice." The Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables all reacted with outrage at the news, and although they weren't exactly cheering, the wide smirks across the Slytherin table suggested that were very pleased with Dumbledore's suspension.

"It is also with great sadness that I admit that Hagrid has also left the school until further notice." She sat down; did they think that Hagrid was responsible? Did the Ministry honestly think that removing Dumbledore would solve the problem? I tried not to worry about as I headed to Defense. It didn't last long, because Lockhart had something to say about it. He always has something to say about everything.

"I knew there was something shifty about that man, it's his giant half. You can't trust Giants," Lockhart proclaimed. The class, which consisted of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff students, rolled their eyes. There was nothing evil about Hagrid, half breed or not.

Later that day, at lunch, I was outside with Draco, Crabbe and Goyle. They were tolerable because they were so stupid they hardly ever said anything worth being offended about.

"To be honest, I'm glad his gone." Draco said with mild excitement.

"Who are you glad is gone, Hagrid or Professor Dumbledore?" I asked, even though I knew it was probably Dumbledore.

"Well, both really, mostly Dumbledore though. That crack pot old fool was the worst thing to ever happen to Hogwarts," Draco exclaimed.

"Are you kidding? There will probably be an attack every day now that Dumbledore is gone!" Draco raised his eyebrows at me.

"There wouldn't be any attacks at all if this school didn't allow the wrong sort in," He gave me a look that suggested I should shut up, or else. I rolled my eyes and looked away from him; he had a point.

"Anyway, I always knew that father would be the one to get rid of him. I'm ashamed that the Minister believes that Hagrid is causing all of this rubbish though. That man is the heir of Slytherin? I don't think so." I didn't respond, instead I thought to myself. Did they honestly believe Hagrid to be responsible?

"Perhaps Professor Snape should apply as Headmaster," Draco suggested.

"Why? McGonagall is doing a fine job and Dumbledore probably won't be gone for very long." I was deliberately trying to ruffle his feathers now.

"This school will go to the dogs if he were to come back, or worse, the muggles."

"Whatever, I'm heading to Potions early, because Snape will probably kill me if I'm late," I left without another word, the bell to signal the end of lunch was sure to go soon, and potions was all the way down in the dungeons. I shuddered at the idea of Snape becoming headmaster. Slytherin would win the House Cup every single year.

I found it hard to concentrate in potions. While the work itself was easy, I had no interest in the subject. Fortunately, Isaac was pretty good at potions, so he put it together while I just read out the instructions. Part of what contributed to my lack of concentration was the constant tingling sensation in my head, much like the night that I'd found Eleanor's body and Snape had asked questions. The more it happened, the more I was sure it was Snape trying to get inside my head.

It was almost as if Snape was doing it for the sake of it. He didn't look surprised anymore when I placed what I imagined to be a block up. Perhaps he was trying to see how long I could keep it up for. Finally I was over it; I focused on the tingling, and thought about the process I used to build the mental wall. 'Leave me alone! Do you want me to do my work? Or are you deliberately distracting me?' I thought, in the direction of the tingling.

Snape's eyes widened slightly before returning to their usual, unemotional state.

"Ten points from Gryffindor, for Miss Black obvious laziness towards her work." I resisted the urge muster up my worst glare in his direction. While I was annoyed that he had taken points away from us, a part of me didn't care. My suspicions had been confirmed.

After class had finished I decided to go to the library. I had a new topic to search for. Did this 'minding reading' have a name? There was only one way to find out. I had no idea where to begin. After much searching I found a book on unusual magical skills. I didn't know if it was a spell, or if it was a skill, but considering I'd been able to do something without my wand, I was more inclined to consider it a skill. I went to the 'M' section with the intention of finding 'mind reading'. Luckily, there was a description for that term.

 _Mind Reading, otherwise known as Telepathy or Legilimency:  
Involves the transmission of information from one person to another through the use of the mind. Due to the complicated and ever changing pathways of one's mind, Legilimency is considered a difficult and powerful skill. Legilimency requires much practice and more times than not requires the use of a spell. There are some witches and wizards to develop this skill with practice to the point where it done wandless and non-verbally. Legilimency can be used to navigate another's mind in order to 'read' it, to communicate to another person, and in extreme cases, Legilimency can be used as a form of mind control. Legilimency, as mind control, is illegal and punishable by the Ministry of Magic.  
It is almost impossible to detect when a Legilimency is being used on you, however its opposite, Occlumency is a protective magic designed to help prevent wizards and witches from falling victim to another's use of Legilimency. _

I slammed the book shut after finishing the section, and inhaled deeply. I'd never been taught anything about Legilimency and Occlumency, and yet I'd somehow been able to demonstrate something of a similar nature. How was this possible? I knew my parents were very powerful wizards, coming from two very powerful families, but no one had mentioned these types of abilities to me before.

Almost two weeks had passed without an attack and I was honestly surprised. It was three days before the exams when McGonagall announced that Dumbledore would be returning to Hogwarts by the end of the week. It was also revealed that the mandrake roots were ready, and the petrified students would be with us by the next day. I was glad about the mandrake, but something didn't feel right. It was too easy. I was anxious all day, and it turns out I was right. I waited in potions again for the bell that signaled break to go and it never came. It was instead replaced with McGonagall's amplified voice.

"All students to return to their house dormitories at once; all teachers to return to the staff room immediately please."

Many students shared looks of concern with each other, and even Snape looked worried. Something had gone terribly wrong. Had someone else been attacked? I was quiet as my class walked to the common room. Many whispered to each other, expressing their fears and concerns. I focused on the ground in front of me. I hadn't heard any whispering of the beast. How had I missed an attack? Who had it been?

It was a little while after arriving in the common room, when Harry and Ron came running in. They went straight to the twins and Percy, taking them to a corner. I watched the scene unfold, filling with dread. I saw the twin's faces drop, and Percy's eyes widened. Was Ginny the latest victim? Was she petrified, or dead? It wasn't my business to ask, but I still wondered.

A short time later, McGonagall arrived. She looked and panic stricken and her face was pale and worn out. At first she approached the Weasley family, which further strengthened my belief that something terribly had happened to Ginny. She then stood in front of the fireplace, the central feature of the Gryffindor common room. Everyone sat or stood quietly, to listen to her shaky voice.

"Perhaps you are all wondering why it is that I have called you back to your common room, perhaps you have already guessed. The Beast that had plagued the castle all this year, has taken a final victim. However there is not a body, the Beast has taken the girl into the Chamber of Secrets." Whispers broke out among the students.

"Silence," Everybody became quiet again.

"Hogwarts has gone beyond the point of being unsafe, parents are being notified, and it is advised that students begin packing immediately. Unless the issue can be resolved, you will all being going home the day after tomorrow, all classes have been cancelled. I suggest that you stay in your common rooms, aside from meal times, and travel in large groups."

"Who's the girl?" Isaac asked. McGonagall looked over at the Weasley brothers, and I followed her line of sight. I saw Percy nod.

"Ginevra Weasley has been taken," She replied. She didn't bother to stop the whispers this time. I went up to my dorm room in order to pack my things while the other talked. As I had really unpacked everything, instead choosing to pull things out as I needed them, packing my up my things didn't take very long. I stared at Ginny's bed across from me, who would pack her things up? Her brothers couldn't come up here. McGonagall would be contacting Ginny's parents, so maybe her mum would be able to do it. I shook my head, the bed was unmade, and everything was a mess. I made a decision, while I wasn't going to go through and pack Ginny's personal belongings; the least I could do is tidy the area to make it easy. I made the bed, and put anything I recognised as Ginny's that was on the floor or not packed away on her bed. I was very aware of the fact that the diary wasn't anywhere to be seen. I was not surprised, that diary was dark, and I was beginning to believe that it had something to do with the Chamber.

Sometime later, Evelyn came up to remind me it was time for dinner. I followed her down stairs and walked to dinner with the rest of the Gryffindor first years. Dinner was, for the first time ever, a very quiet experience. Everyone in Gryffindor shared somber expressions, and the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables looked fairly similar. Even some of the Slytherins looked upset or worried, probably because they were now forced to go home, and unless the problem was fixed, they would never be able to return to Hogwarts. The other houses seemed to ignore Slytherin, as if blaming them for what had happened to Ginny. It was the Slytherin beast after all. I noticed that Harry and Ron weren't at dinner, and neither was Professor Lockhart. From what I'd heard of Harry, and also from what I'd seen so far this year, they were probably attempting to rescue Ginny. I really hoped they were successful, because even though Ginny was a blood traitor, I never wanted to see her dead.

I had trouble getting to sleep that night, but when I finally did, it didn't feel right. I dreamt, and when I did it was the most realistic dream I'd never had. There was snake, a large one, a boy with dark hair and dark eyes. There was a girl with red hair laying on the ground, a boy with green eyes attempting to save her. There was a sword and then the snake was dead. It wasn't long before the boy joined his pet; he screamed in agony and appeared to be destroyed from the inside out. I woke to being shaken by Evelyn, while the other girl's stood around watching me with pale faces and wide eyes. I'd been screaming to, my body ached and I was sweaty. What did the dream mean?

"Ginny Weasley is alive," The words came out of my mouth before I could even register. Were they even true?

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 **Please let me know what you think :)**


	16. The Hero

**Summary:** **Adhara Phoebe Black was raised to believe she was the daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, growing up alongside Draco as his sister. Expecting to begin her first year of Hogwarts as a Slytherin princess, things do not go according to plan and Ari begins to learn some things about herself and the people around her that start to make her question the life she lives.**

 **Copyright: I am not J.K. Rowling and therefore do not own anything recognised as belonging to the Harry Potter universe, I do however own Ari and anything else original in this story.**

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Riddled with Black  
Chapter Sixteen - The Hero

Falling asleep after my strange dream had been difficult, and when I finally did fall back asleep it seemed like only moments before it was morning and I was awake again. I awoke to the excited chatter of the girls in my dorm and Nyx's fishy breath as she licked my face.

"What's all the excitement about?" I mumbled. I didn't understand, because even though I wanted to believe that my dream last night was true, my confidence had waned.

"You were right!" Evelyn exclaimed.

"Ginny's alive, Harry saved her!" Isla continued. I blinked in surprise.

"How did you know?" Isobel asked with a raised eyebrow. I shrugged.

"I really don't know," Surprisingly, she left it at that. I got up out of bed and selected some clothes before going for a shower. I needed to clear my head. When I was done the girls had left the dormitory, I assumed they had headed down to the common room. I went down there to, and sitting by the fire place was Ginny with her brothers and parents. Ginny looked happier and healthier than she had at any point in the whole year. She looked up as she heard my footsteps, our eyes meet and I gave her a look that I hoped suggested I was glad she'd survived. Her smile told me that she understood. Her family looked up at me also, and her parents seemed to pale. It probably had something to do with the fact that I looked like my aunt, Bellatrix Lestrange.

I left the common room and headed straight for Dumbledore's office. I had some questions and even though Draco considered him a fool, I honestly believed he'd be able to help me. I was about to turn the corner into the hallway when a sudden shout stopped me in my tracks.

"Mr. Malfoy, I've got something for you!" It was Harry's voice, and he was calling to my father. I decided to peak around the corner. Beside my father was Dobby, one of our house-elves, and I watched as Harry handed my father a sock. Father ripped the sock off throwing it in Dobby's reach. I smirked, he would not like what he had just been tricked into doing. My smirk soon disappeared from my face as I realized that it was the diary. The diary that I knew I'd seen him give to Ginny, that Ginny had thought was given to her. The diary she trusted, the diary that talked back. My father was responsible for this mess. He muttered something that I didn't hear to Harry before demanding Dobby come with him.

"Master has given Dobby a sock!" Dobby exclaimed, and I watched as my father's facial expression changed from mildly irritated to extremely pissed off. Suddenly he lunged as Harry.

"You've lost me my servant boy!" I thought about how we had plenty of house elves, and how could afford so many more. Dobby came to Harry's defense, using his powers to slam my father into the wall. I dashed out of his sight, and unfortunately out of hearing range. I waited about ten minutes before emerging and continuing my way to Dumbledore's office. Luckily they had left. I knocked on Dumbledore's door.

"Come in," Dumbledore called softly. I opened the door, and he looked genuinely surprised to see me.

"Ah, Miss Black, I wasn't expecting you, take a seat." I sat down in front of him and looked at his desk. Now that I was here, I had no idea what to say.

"What can I help you with?" He asked, and I looked up to meet his eyes through his half-moon spectacles. I felt a brief tingling sensation in my head.

"I can feel when you do that, you know," Well that's always a good place to start. He smiled at me.

"Do what?" He prompted. I narrowed my eyes in his direction; he knew exactly what I was talking about.

"I can feel this sensation, a bit like tingle, like something is trying to get in here," I pointed to my head, "I guess you're trying to read my mind or something, you and Professor Snape try to do it a lot."

"Do you know what this is called?"

"Yes, Legilimency, in a nutshell the ability to enter another's brain and read their thoughts and memories, and the ability to deflect this invasion is called Occlumency. I think…."

"Very good Miss Black and what is it that you think?"

"I think that I might have a natural skill for both Legilimency and Occlumency."

"Did you come here so I could confirm your suspicions? I believe you are right about having a natural skill for Occlumency, and Legilimency from what Professor Snape has told me." Snape must have told Dumbledore about what had happened in class.

"I guess, but there's more. Forgive me if this is inappropriate for me to ask, but I was wondering if the Heir of Slytherin or the Slytherin monster had been identified." I decided to play dumb about what I knew in regards to the diary. Dumbledore took some time to consider before finally deciding to share what he considered appropriate information.

"It appears as though the heir, who was indeed responsible for the attacks that occurred years ago, had found a way to control Miss Weasley through the means of a diary," He paused for a moment before adding to his sentence, "The heir was Tom Riddle, however you may know him as Lord Voldemort. As for the beast, it has become apparent that it was basilisk, a type of snake with the ability to kill those who look it in the eyes."

"And is the ability to talk to snakes really only found in those that are descended from Salazar Slytherin?" Dumbledore thought about my question.

"It could just be pure coincidence that all those who could just happened to be descended from Slytherin, but no one can know for sure. Is there anything else you want to tell me Miss Black?" Dumbledore stared intently, almost as if he was waiting for me to let my guard down so he could absorb my thoughts. Did I want to tell him? I felt that I could trust him.

"I could hear the beast, Sir. Every attack I would whispering, a bit like Harry would. I didn't say anything sooner because I didn't know what it meant." Dumbledore did his best to hide his surprise.

"That is very interesting, perhaps there is just an undocumented relationship to link the Black family with Slytherin, but the only last known descendants was the Gaunt family, with the last remaining member of that family being Tom Riddle himself, who I don't believe had any children." This conversation had done nothing but present more questions.

"Perhaps you're right sir, it is just undocumented link." I said with a smile and went to stand up and leave. He stopped me.

"Before you leave Miss Black, I have a suggestion for you," I nodded for him to continue, "While it is apparent that you have a natural mental skill, my proposal is that in the new school year, if you would like to undertake private lessons to build upon your Occlumency and Legilimency." I didn't see how it could hurt.

"Sure, but if you're going to do that, it'd be better if you called me by name. Ari," He smiled.

"Is that Ari, to mean Lion in Hebrew?" I smiled back.

"You could say that."

"Very well, now don't forget the feast!" I nodded and left his office. I contemplated skipping the feast but in the end I decided to go. Upon arrival I established that I was only one clothed, everyone else was in their pajamas. The victims had been returned to their non-petrified state, and I was glad when I noticed Eleanor sitting on the Slytherin table, people were actually talking to her and being kind. In the feast they announced that exams had been cancelled, along with Defense Against the Dark Arts classes. Gryffindor won the house cup, and Hagrid was returned to his rightful place in the castle.

The rest of the term had passed by fairly uneventful, and before I knew it were boarding the train to return home. I found a compartment by myself, but before long I was joined by Draco. Unfortunately he was not alone; with him were Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle. Pansy took one look at Nyx curled up in my lap and her face paled.

"I am not staying in here with that cat," She demanded.

"Well I guess you will just have to have to find another compartment then, won't you Pansy?" I responded before anyone else could react.

"I will!" Pansy went to leave. "Are you coming Draco?" Draco looked at me, and then looked back at Pansy. I looked down in my lap, and started to pat Nyx, causing her to purr louder. I expected that Draco would leave and the trip back to London would be a lonely one.

"No, I think I'll stay here, thanks." Draco answered. I looked up in surprise and noticed that Pansy looked like she was about to throw a temper tantrum. I gave her a dark look and she backed down.

"Fine, I guess I'll just stay with Daphne then." And she stormed off. Draco turned to Crabbe and Goyle.

"I suggest you find Zabini or Nott, I'd like to spend the train ride alone with my cousin." The boys nodded and Draco sat down across from me.

"Adhara,"

"Draco,"

"What's it like being in the same House as Potter?" He asked darkly. I rolled my eyes.

"Warm," I snapped as I grabbed for my art bag, if he kept this up I was going to just ignore him completely.

"Planned a date with Weasel yet?" He seemed bitter. I dropped my bag on the seat.

"Just stop!" I snapped at him and he looked taken aback. "I'm not even friends with any of them; let alone hanging out with them. Would you just shut up and get over the fact that I'm sorted into Gryffindor."

"But,"

"No Draco, I mean it, you're my big brother and we used to get along so well, and that all changed because you couldn't accept that I am in a different house to you, that I'm exposed to a different opinion to you. Get over it and move on or I'm moving out of this compartment." Draco looked down at his lap.

"I'm sorry," He said after a few moments of contemplative silence. "I haven't been very nice all year."

"You've been okay… sometimes," I said.

"That's not good enough. I just feel like I have something to prove,"

"What do you think waltzing about the school going on about how you hope all the Mudbloods are killed, or yelling at your sister for having a different opinion proves, other the fact that you are a jerk?" Draco's eyes flashed.

"It proves that I am loyal to my heritage."

"It proves that you are just like your father,"

"And why wouldn't I want to be my father? He is powerful, he is successful and he is loyal!"

"You know it was him right?" I challenged.

"What do you mean?" He seemed confused.

"That planted Tom Riddle's diary at Hogwarts, that's how the beast got out. Tom Riddle, or Lord Voldemort, is the heir of Slytherin and he kept a diary, and father gave that diary to Ginny Weasley."

"Even if it were true, what does matter, she's a blood traitor anyway!"

"She's eleven years old! How would you feel if that were me?"

"It would never be you, you're not like them, or at least I thought you weren't, but you're turning."

"I'm not turning; I just don't see why we need to be so negative all the time!" Draco sighed.

"Fine, let's just agree to disagree." Draco never usually let things go. He normally tells father about it.

"I miss you Draco," I frowned. This was hard.

"I miss you too Ari, look, let's just play exploding snap or something, enough of this arguing." So we did, and when the lady with the trolley came, we pigged out on junk food. It felt like old times, but I could still feel that something changed. Was I changing? Caring about mudbloods? Questioning the pure blood supremacy? Was this year just the beginning? I didn't know, and at that point I didn't care. I was just happy to be returning home again, even if it meant I had to face my mother and get to the bottom of the truth.

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 **I am so very sorry that it has taken me so long to update, it has been a very hard past two months, as my grandfather became very sick very quickly and passed away in June, and I've struggled to be motivated for much since. To make it up to you guys I am uploading all three chapters that I currently have written and will do my best to keep on top of updating more frequently.**


	17. The Secret

**Summary:** **Adhara Phoebe Black was raised to believe she was the daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, growing up alongside Draco as his sister. Expecting to begin her first year of Hogwarts as a Slytherin princess, things do not go according to plan and Ari begins to learn some things about herself and the people around her that start to make her question the life she lives.**

 **Copyright: I am not J.K. Rowling and therefore do not own anything recognised as belonging to the Harry Potter universe, I do however own Ari and anything else original in this story.**

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Riddled with Black  
Chapter Seventeen – The Secret

It was nearing evening when we pulled into King's Cross. Draco and I had grown tired of playing games and sat beside each other, reading a book each. Nyx had been curled up on my lap for most of the journey and was disgruntled when I put her in the carrier.

"Sorry girl, but it's the way it has to be until we get home." Her eyes, which were now more of a golden colour from age, almost looked like they were glaring at me. Yet she purred and rubbed her face against my fingers when I stuck them through the door of the carrier.

Our parents were waiting for us at the station. While my mother looked pleased to see us, my father stood with a scowl on his face, barely saying a word to us. She embraced us both. Father nodded at me and gave Draco a hand shake.

"So how did you find Hogwarts, Adhara?" Mother asked me as we turned to leave the station. I didn't respond straight away, I didn't know how to respond. I had liked my time at Hogwarts, but it also came with many discoveries. It all come rushing back to me, I could talk to snakes, suggesting that I was the heir of Slytherin. Oh, and aunt and uncle had tormented the parents of a boy my age to the point where they were clinically insane.

"It was nice," I forced out, "but there is no place like home." Mother pulled me into a hug and I tried not tense up. I was annoyed that she had kept it from me and instead I had to find out from somebody else.

Soon we were home and the house elves helped us carry our luggage to our rooms. Coral stayed with me as I packed away my clothes.

"Coral missed Miss Black," She said as she folded some of the clothes.

"I missed you to Coral," Coral looked up at me and I rubbed her head endearingly. Another house elf, Elsie, appeared. Dinner was ready. I took my time going down, despite Coral's urgings to for me to hurry.

"About time," My father muttered when I sat down at the table. I bit my tongue and began to eat. I scowled at my food, I was still so annoyed. I needed closure.

"What's the matter, Ari?" My mother said, as Draco and father talked. I blinked.

"Answer your mother, Adhara" Father said warningly, and I looked him directly in the eye, before turning to look at aunt Narcissa. Suddenly I couldn't keep it in any longer.

"Are we descended for Salazar Slytherin?" I asked abruptly, and mother dropped her cutlery.

"Pardon?" She swallowed hard.

"Parseltongue, the ability to communicate with snakes, is believed to be directly connected to Salazar Slytherin himself, and his descendants. I can do that, so I am asking, are we descended from Slytherin?"

"What do you mean you're a Parselmouth?" Draco interrupted me.

"I mean that when you thought you would be smart and summon a snake when you were duelling Potter, I understood everything he said to try to calm that snake down and prevent it from attacking Justin." From the corner of my eye I could see that mother and father were exchanging dark looks.

"And I mean that when you," I directed my attention to my father, who's actions had disappointed me greatly, "Decided to give an eleven year girl a diary with a piece of the Dark Lord's soul inside, so she could summon the Slytherin Beast - which is a giant snake known as a basilisk, by the way - from the depths of the Hogwarts, I understood it as it slithered around the castle wanting to kill my fellow students."

"Adhara Phoebe Black, do not talk to your father like that," Mother chastised me but I can sense she was trying to contain her shock and having realised exactly what her husband had done.

"I'm not her father, Narcissa." Mother looked shocked for words.

"What?" I snapped.

"I'm not your father, Adhara," He repeated, "And by the sounds of it, neither was Rodolphus." He said that last part to my mother, and I was completely caught off guard. Did he mean Rodolphus Lestrange, the man I had been taught was my uncle? The man her was a part of the torture of Neville Longbottoms parents?

"You slept with someone other than father?" Draco was now upset, and demanding answers.

"No, no, no," Mother said while shaking her head.

"You were going to have to tell her sooner or later, Narcissa, and while you are at it you are going to tell me the whole truth as well." What did this revelation make Lucius Malfoy to me?

"Tell me what?" I demanded.

"Ari..." My aunt said softly, the look in her eyes begging me to just let it go. I hoped the hard look in my eyes told her I wasn't going to be.

"Draco, I think you better go to your room."

"No, whatever you say to me you can say to him, you know I would tell him anyway," I replied before Draco could even protest himself. She sighed in defeat, and closed her eyes.

"What I am about to tell you both is very vital that it remains a secret. Ari's life depends on it." Draco and I both nodded in agreeance.

"The truth is, neither Lucius nor myself are your parents, Ari. We are actually your aunt and uncle, and Draco is your cousin."

"You were born in this very house, to my sister, Bellatrix."

"So I'm a Lestrange?" I interrupted, but then remembered father – no uncle Lucius – saying how I didn't seem to be Rodolphus' child either.

"No Ari, while your mother was married to a Lestrange, she did not bare a Lestrange child."

"Then who is my father?"

"The Dark Lord is,"

"What?" Seemed to be the shared response from all three of us.

"It is true, Bella told me, and I sort of believed her while she was pregnant. It wasn't until I saw some of things you did as a child, that solidified my belief, and now you've come out and said you're a Parselmouth.

"So, I'm the daughter of the Dark Lord, how does this relate to being able to talk to snakes."

"The dark Lord, also know as Tom Riddle was Parselmouth, and was very proud of the fact this his maternal family was descended from Salazar Slytherin himself," Uncle Lucius answered for her.

"So that makes me the true heir of Slytherin." I said blankly,

"Well yes… if I had known…" Lucius muttered.

"If you had known, you'd have what? Made me open the Chamber instead of giving Ginny Weasley that diary?" I shouted. He said nothing. "All of you disgust me." I snarled before getting out of my chair and stomping up to my bedroom. This was all just too much to handle.

Not long after, I heard a knock at my door. I could sense that it was Draco.

"Go away," I yelled out. I didn't want to deal with anyone.

"It's me, Draco," He started to open the door.

"I know, I said go away!" I sat up.

"I know, but please let me in." Draco pleaded. I relented.

"I just wanted you to know that it doesn't matter what happened tonight." He paused, "You will always be my baby sister, even if you are really just my cousin." I started to sob, and Draco came closer and awkwardly gave me a hug and patted me on the back, we hadn't been taught how to deal with emotion properly.

"I just don't know what to think… do you know what aunt Bella – my mother – did to Neville Longbottoms parents?" Draco shook his head.

"Whatever it was I'm sure they deserved it."

"No, Draco, no one deserves what happened to them. They were tortured into insanity. They don't even realise that Neville exists… how would you feel if our parents were tortured and didn't know who we were?"

"I suppose you are right, Ari, I would be terribly upset. This explains why Longbottom is a bit special, I suppose."

"They aren't good people, people like Bellatrix Lestrange, and I don't care what you say to this Draco, but your father isn't a nice man either."

"What do you mean?"

"You heard what he did Draco, I don't care if the Weasley's are muggle loving blood traitors, but Ginny Weasley is the same age as me and she could have died." Draco looked thoughtful.

"You aren't wrong, Ari… but father was just doing what he had to support the Dark Lord. You should support that, seeing as you are his daughter." I found myself full of regret, I wasn't ready to find out that my parents weren't my real parents. I most definitely wasn't ready to find out that my father was the Dark Lord.

"The Dark Lord is dead, Draco."

"Father and others don't believe so, they are waiting for the time he returns to power."

"Well good luck to them, what do you think he will do to me when he finds out my existence? I am competition to him, he would most likely kill me."

"Or make you his right hand man."

"I'm tired, Draco." Not to mention so done with this conversation.

"Alright, I'll leave you alone then, goodnight Ari."

"Night, Draco." He left and I tried to curl in a comfortable position. Nyx was finally done exploring the Manor and had come to bed, licking my face to give me kisses. Before long, I had fallen asleep.

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 **I would really love to know what people especially think of this chapter. Thank you. :)**


	18. Bound by Magic

**Summary:** **Adhara Phoebe Black was raised to believe she was the daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, growing up alongside Draco as his sister. Expecting to begin her first year of Hogwarts as a Slytherin princess, things do not go according to plan and Ari begins to learn some things about herself and the people around her that start to make her question the life she lives.**

 **Copyright: I am not J.K. Rowling and therefore do not own anything recognised as belonging to the Harry Potter universe, I do however own Ari and anything else original in this story.**

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Riddled with Black  
Chapter Eighteen – Bound by Magic

I stayed in my room for the next few days, pretending to feel unwell to avoid contact with other people. I mostly drew pictures or read over notes from the past year. I'd also asked my teachers for some notes to get my started before I was able to get my second year books. Coral snuck me in food for that time, until a week had passed, when she said that mother – aunt Narcissa? – had asked that I join them, in a tone that meant she had demanded it. I begrudgingly made my way down the stairs and into the dining room where my family was waiting for breakfast.

"Glad you could join us Ari, are you feeling better?" My aunt asked with a smile. The whole group were acting as though nothing had happened, nothing had changed. I nodded and sat down. Breakfast appeared, and shortly after so did two owls. I recognised one as being Eleanor's, and I grabbed the letter, feeding the owl before it flew away. My aunt also had an envelope.

"Who's the letter from?" Draco asked.

"Not sure, probably a friend,"

"Someone respectable I hope." Uncle Lucius commented.

"Alessandra is getting married again in a few weeks' time." My aunt interrupted.

"Oh really, what was his name?

"Henry Kowalski."

"And how rich is he?"

"Very. He is some American wizarding politician who is half her age."

"She didn't wait long after the last died."

"As far as I know she's been seeing this one, since before Hector died."

"What is with that woman and names starting in H?"

"I have no idea, but she's just having a small ceremony this, just some of the immediate circle have been invited, so we better go."

"If we have to, Narcissa." Draco and I exchanged looks as his parents talked about one of his best friend's mother. Alessandra Zabini had been married too many times for me to count, with most of her husband's meeting a sticky end, while she got all the money.

After breakfast I went into the library, where I read my letter from Eleanor.

 _Hey Ari,_

 _So it turns out my brother, Christopher, received his letter for Hogwarts while I was away. He'll be joining us next year! I am so excited, but my parents aren't too happy about somehow producing two magical children._

 _Talk soon, Eleanor._

I quickly wrote a response back, saying that it was great news and asking her what house she thought he'd be sorted in. I was joined shortly after by Aunt Narcissa.

"Ari, I think we better talk about what happened when you came home from Hogwarts."

"There is nothing to talk about," I said, looking anywhere but her face, "You lied to me for nearly twelve years and expect everything to be alright, and it's not."

"You're right, Ari, everything is not alright, but it can be." I looked up at her. She looked defeated. "All I wanted to do was protect you Ari, I may not be your mother by birth, but I have raised you since you were two months old, and honestly, if Bella had found some way out of Azkaban I don't think I could have given you back."

"I understand that, but I just wish I had been better prepared for Hogwarts. I thought I was going mad, hearing voices… there is more than just being able to talk to snakes."

"Talk to me Ari, as I have more to tell you myself, I promise no more secrets or lies."

"I think I have a natural affinity for Legilimency and Occlumency. I don't hear thoughts all the time, but sometimes, and I can feel and block when others are trying to enter my mind." She sighed.

"That would be true, Ari, the reason its only happening in pieces is because you've been bound and it's starting to unravel."

"Bound?"

"Yes, Ari, bound. When you were toddler you were capable of some incredible magic… If you wanted something and it was on the other side of room, suddenly it would be in your reach… Sometimes I'd catch you in what would appear to be conversations with all kinds of an animals… and when you threw a temper tantrum, sometimes things around you caught on fire." I sat, completely shocked.

"It is not unusual for young witches and wizards to be capable of expressing underage magic in fits of anger or high stress, but what you were capable of was beyond anything I'd seen Draco do, or anyone else for that matter. I did what I had to do to protect you and our little secret. I sought out a spell that would dull your magic until you were ready to learn to control them, obviously with going to Hogwarts and being surrounded by constant magic, it's starting to unravel and these things you were capable of a child are starting to come back to you." I nodded, barely grasping what aunt Narcissa was trying to tell me.

"You've got to understand Ari, this is very dangerous stuff we are talking about, and you need to be very, very careful."

"I understand…" I didn't know if I should call her mum or aunt Narcissa to her face. Almost is if she knew that it what I was thinking, aunt Narcissa started to speak again.

"Now, it was up to you whether you refer to us as aunt and uncle or mother and father, officially if anyone were to go back and look at the paperwork, your birth was initially registered as the child of Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange, and we legally adopted you when they were sent to Azkaban. However we told many people that I had birthed you instead, and that we stayed home due to both being unwell. I made my point very clear to the Department of Births, Death and Marriages, that I wanted you kept away from all this war nonsense and the best way to do this would be to raise you as are own, so any files related to you are stored securely, and they made sure no questions were asked about you, and so far, we've been fine." I nodded. "I just knew that once the Dark Lord lost his power that night, it wasn't going to be a safe place for anyone connected to him. Lucius was lucky he was able to convince the Ministry that he had been operating under the Imperious Curse."

"Did the Dark Lord know about me?"

"I can't honestly say yes or no for sure, Ari, Bella never told me if she had revealed the truth to him. Rodolphus thought you were his though, he asks about you every time I visit. Bella asks too."

"Those people… they aren't my parents… they chose to go and visit the Longbottoms, who had a son not much older then I, even though they had a two month old baby waiting at home for them… they aren't fit to be parents."

"How did you find out about that?" She asked, startled.

"A boy at school, his mum is a healer at St Mungo's. It isn't exactly easy coming from a 'Death Eater' family and being sorted into Gryffindor."

"Do they pick on you?" She asked, defensive.

"No more then what Draco bullies the muggle born students." She smirked slightly. "What is funny about that?"

"Nothing, Ari… just that you remind me so much of my sister."

"The crazy one?" I asked with a cocked eyebrow, the crazy sister was my mother after all.

"No… the other one… Andromeda…" I looked her with confusion.

"I have another sister, younger then Bella, but older than me."

"Did you feel like the odd one out?" I interrupted. "With sisters named Bellatrix and Andromeda, which are astronomical names, and you were named after a flower?"

"A little bit at first, but it made a lot of sense. Bella and Andy looked almost identical to each other, with dark hair and dark eyes, like typical 'Black' family members. As you can see, I don't have dark hair and eyes. I look like a Rosier, who, with a few exceptions, like my mother, had a tendency to name their daughters after flowers. Pansy Parkinson's mother is a Rosier."

"So Pansy and Draco are related then?" Aunt Narcissa nodded and I made a face.

"They would be something like second or third cousins, that's totally acceptable in our society." It was still gross to think about, but that was probably because I had never liked Pansy.

"So back to how I remind you of your sister Andromeda?" I changed the topic back.

"I guess even when we were children, Andromeda thought a bit like how you think now, 'why do we bully them just because their magical background is different?'. Your disgust at how Lucius handled the diary situation and the Weasley girl… you sounded like dear Andy."

"What happened to her?" I asked, even though I had a bit of an idea as to where this story was going.

"We were all sorted into Slytherin, all two years apart. Bella was a typical tom boy, she played Quidditch and hung out with boys, I was very much the stereotypical pretty mean girl with a clique, while Andy was a bit of a book worm. She even admitted to me that the Sorting Hat had contemplated putting her in Ravenclaw but she begged to be in Slytherin." She paused and collected her thoughts.

"It was actually Andy who was supposed to marry Rodolphus Lestrange when she graduated high school, as Bella had somehow managed to convince our parents to let her go unmarried, while I was very happily betrothed to Lucius. However, as the end of her seventh year approached, she became more and more distant and I often couldn't find her anywhere. Until one time I caught her with that muggle born Hufflepuff by the name of Edward Tonks. I wasn't going to say anything because I didn't want her to get in trouble but…" She stopped again.

"She decided she loved Ted, and refused to marry Rod, and well… you know what happens in the Black family when its members behave unfavorably." I nodded, I knew exactly what would have happened, she would have been disowned for being a traitor and had her name burned off the Black family tree.

"So Bella had to marry Rod instead, and Andy was blown off the family tree?" She nodded, looking sullen.

"Which meant that I technically cannot have anything to do with her." I gave her a funny look.

"I may not have much to do with her but I have kept up with her life. She because a Healer and married that Ted Tonks, and they have a daughter together named Nymphadora, who is a very special type of witch called a Metamorphmagus, which means she can change the way she looks at will. She would be about twenty now and I think she's training to be an Auror." Aurors when Ministry workers that laid down the law in the wizarding world. "I also notified her when Draco was born, and she also is one of the few that know of you as being the daughter of Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange." I nodded, I can imagine it would be hard having to completely cut ties with your sister.

"Speaking of the Black family tree, how did you manage to get it to show me as your child?"

"Well the tree is controlled my magic, which Aunt Walburga was the only one who really cared about keeping it going."

"So you lied to Aunt Walburga?"

"I did what I had to do to make sure you were safe." I nodded. "Besides it can be changed at any time, in fact if someone wanted to fix the burn marks, they probably could do it now that she's dead." Interesting.

"I think we really did need to have this talk."

"Yes I agree, I'm very sorry I kept this all from you, but I was just trying to keep you safe."

"I think I am going to call you aunt Narcissa, and 'dad' uncle Lucius, but I won't call Bellatrix mum, I don't ever want to see her," Aunt Narcissa looked hurt.

"I understand," Was all she said. "I'm going to leave you to do your own thing for now, perhaps next couple of weeks we could try developing your mental magic."

"I'd like that," I responded and aunt Narcissa left me alone in the library, this was a lot to digest, and I was glad to be alone in my thoughts.

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 **Also very curious what people think of this idea. Obviously Tom Riddle displayed from a very young age what he was capable of, that I thought it would be odd if Ari didn't display anything like it. However it would also be very difficult to explain why shes got these talents that Draco doesn't without telling the truth. So hence came the idea of her magic being bound. It seems plausible to me. So as she spends more time at Hogwarts as well as emotional and hormonal changes, more of what she can do will reveal itself. Theres also some things in this chapter that will come up in future installments, if I ever get that far.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Hello!**

 **I'm writing this because I am feeling very annoyed with myself.**

 **It has been well and truly over a year since I last updated, over two years since I first published, and probably seven years since I first started writing what would eventually become Riddled with Black. I have plan - a long term one involving a trilogy and I know exactly where I want Ari's story to go, its just finding the time and energy to write it all down while also studying.**

 **I've noticed I'm getting a few follows/favourites over the months, and I feel extra bad. Thank you also much for you patience. It really is my goal to get new chapters to you guys soon.**

 **Sorry for the dodgy post not update but I just felt the need to touch base to let people know I was indeed still active.**

 **The next update should actually be an update.**


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